Alex Asigno

The Tech 3 Yamaha Team have chosen Makoto Tamada to join their team for the 2007 MotoGP World Championship season. The 29-year-old Japanese will ride the new 800cc Yamaha and continue the development of Dunlop tyres of which the performance has significantly improved during the 2006 season. "We are very happy to welcome Makoto Tamada" says Herve Poncharal, Tech 3 Yamaha Dunlop team manager. " He is an excellent rider who has already proved his potential by winning two Grands Prix and being on the podium five times in the MotoGP era. We are sure that he will be able to help Dunlop becoming more competitive - a challenge that has become even more interesting as we will all jointly work with the new Yamaha 800 with the full support of the Yamaha factory." Makoto Tamada, who made his MotoGP debut in 2003 also looks forward to joining this project: "I am happy to be back on Dunlop tyres again, and have good memories of riding on Dunlop in the Japanese Superbike Championship. I am excited by the challenge that the Tech 3 Yamaha Dunlop project offers. I was able to judge at close quarters the current level of the Yamaha Dunlup package during the Portuguese GP, where Carlos Checa and I raced very close together." Makoto Tamada's statistics: Grands Prix contested in total: 62 Debut in Grand Prix: 1998 in 250 cc First MotoGP: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka, 2003 MotoGP Podiums: 5 MotoGP victories: 2 (Japan and Brazil 2004) Click here to view the news

A fantastic team effort from Yamaha today saw Valentino Rossi take the lead in the MotoGP World Championship by eight points ahead of the final round of the season at Valencia, after taking second place in a race that saw Nicky Hayden (Honda) dramatically crash out at Estoril. Rossi missed out on victory by just 0.002 seconds after a photo finish with Toni Elias (Honda), the Spanish youngster slipstreaming the Italian to the line to take his maiden success in the class. Nevertheless the 20-point haul means that second place for Rossi at the final race in two weeks' time will be enough for the title, regardless of who wins. Colin Edwards also played a crucial role for the team today, turning in one of his best performances this season to battle with the lead group throughout the race before being forced to settle for fourth in that breathtaking finale. The Texan got a great start from the front row of the grid and fulfilled his promise to help out Rossi for the opening laps, protecting his team-mate from the attentions of Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and Hayden. Whilst Rossi tried to escape at the front, a pass by Edwards on Pedrosa for second place on lap three proved critical, as the Spaniard then became involved in a tussle with his own team-mate Hayden before sensationally colliding into the American to send them both tumbling into the gravel. Rossi and Edwards looked set for a one-two finish, mirroring their qualifying result, but a late charge from Elias, who was followed by Kenny Roberts JR (Team KR) put paid to those hopes as the top four crossed the line separated by just 0.864 seconds. Valentino Rossi (2nd ; +0.002) "I'm really happy to be finally leading the championship; this is the most important thing for today, even if I am disappointed not to have won! I made a good start and was in front after turn one, but I knew that my pace wasn't as fast as yesterday, because it was about ten degrees colder and this gave us some problems. When I saw that Colin was behind me this made me quite relaxed because I knew he would help me as much as he could. He rode a great race and I have to say a big thank you to him, I am so sad that he's not on the podium with me today. It was a very hard race for me and I had to push all the way because Kenny, Toni and Colin were very fast too. Going into the last chicane I knew I had to come out in front, but then Toni was just a little bit faster than me to the line. Well done to him for his first win, he really rode a hard race today! Now we have two weeks until the final showdown, so we need to relax and stay focused and try to do another weekend like this in Valencia! Once again of course I need to thank my team and everyone involved, I think we've really shown today that we have real 'team spirit' at Yamaha and Colin and I are really lucky to be able to race in a team like this." Colin Edwards (4th; + 0.864) "I got a decent start and just tried to help Valentino out, holding the other guys up where I could because in practice our pace was around the 1'37.9 mark so I thought if I could hold it at 1'38.5 he might be able get away. My plan was to put the hammer down once he'd gone and hopefully shake off the rest of the guys to seal up second place but Valentino couldn't quite match his practice pace and we were just hanging behind him. It was a real scrap out there at the end and to be honest I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't make it onto the podium because we had the pace all weekend, the guys have done a brilliant job with the bike and I wanted to give them something to celebrate. Anyway, as a team things couldn't have worked out much better so it's been a very satisfactory weekend for us and now we'll aim to go out on an even bigger high in Valencia." Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Our main target throughout the second half of the season was to arrive in Valencia with the championship still possible and we have done that so we are very pleased. We are delighted that Colin was able to get back to the kind of pace he is capable of this weekend and it couldn't have come at a better time because he played a brilliant role and showed what a great team player he is. The two riders have a great relationship with each other and that team ethic runs throughout the staff. Today was a perfect example of why that is so important. Now we have to keep doing what we have done since Brno for one more race. Personally I wish it was tomorrow but we've got two weeks to wait so we will have to just use this time as best we can and make sure we are ready to try and win the title at Valencia." Superb seventh to celebrate Checa's birthday for Tech 3 Yamaha The Tech 3 Yamaha Team equalled its best result of the 2006 season as Carlos Checa finished in a superb seventh position after an action packed Grande Premio de Portugal at the Estoril circuit. It was a fitting result to help celebrate Carlos' 34th birthday. Besides his excellent seventh place, Carlos also recorded the seventh fastest lap of the race just 0.050 second slower than new championship leader and fellow Yamaha rider, Valentino Rossi and prove the continued advancement that the Dunlop tyres have achieved in recent weeks. For his team mate, James Ellison it was a hard fought battle to finish in 13th position after a bad start saw him involved in an intense tussle with Alex Hoffman. In his endeavours to pass the German, he lost some grip and was forced to play it safe to ensure he brought his Yamaha home to secure more championship points. Carlos Checa Carlos Checa (7th, Fastest lap 1'38.306) "I am very satisfied with this result but it could've been much worse as I had some difficulty in the first corner. I touched with (Chris) Vermeulen as he braked very deep inside me and I know that first turn can have some big troubles and I wanted to have some space. After that I passed some riders and I was really having fun because it was the first time for awhile I have been able pass some riders and race. Then I caught the group with Elias and Roberts but then I started to lose the stability of the rear and it started moving around. Also I lost the side grip particularly on the final turn so I lose three or four tenths each lap and combined with the lose of stability this didn't give me a chance to stay with them. I swapped places with Tamada a few times but then I couldn't keep with him. I was riding so hard I nearly ran off the track and then Hopkins passed me I was lucky to stay on the track so I decided I had to finish the race and conserve the tyre as much as I could so this seventh place finish was very acceptable considering these difficulties. James Ellison (13thFastest lap 1'39.887) "To be honest the race was a bit of a disaster that commenced at the start as I was out-dragged by Alex (Hoffman) because I really wanted to stay in front of him and try and tag on the end of Carlos and keep the guys I out-qualified behind me because I knew if they were in front they would hold me up. It's pretty difficult to pass around this track without making some desperate moves. It was a fight to get past him for six or seven laps as he was really holding me up. I tried slip-streaming himdown the straight but he was doing some good blocks on me then by seven laps I had lost all grip trying to ride too hard to get past him. It was a real handful to ride as it was sliding all over the place so I gradually I dropped back. That's it basically so it's extremely disappointing." Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "It was a very good day for Yamaha today overall. We are very happy because we equalled our best race result from the US Grand Prix. Even though Carlos had some problems at the first corner and was about 13th or 14th at the end of the first lap, it is a credit to the tenacity of him that he kept his cool and kept his head down to recover a lot of positions. During the first 10 laps he was as quick or even quicker than some of the leaders and was riding a really great race at that moment but he had a coming together with Tamada and Hopkins and he lost some ground, around five seconds." "We are very happy because we have proved we have reached another step. After Japan it was very important to have a good race and result here." "I'm really hoping he will stay with us for next year and hopefully we will find out tonight. We gave him a cake this morning and hopefully we can celebrate his birthday and the result with some champagne later." "I would also like to offer my congratulations to Valentino as he moves in to the championship lead so overall it has been a very successful day for Yamaha" Circuit Length: 4182 Temp: 20 Weather: Dry 2006 MotoGP Estoril 15/10/2006 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Toni Elias Honda ESP 46'8.739 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'0.002 3 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 0'0.176 4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'0.864 5 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 0'18.419 6 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'25.181 7 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 0'29.348 8 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'31.831 9 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'40.117 10 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'41.496 11 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'41.533 12 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'44.776 13 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'19.113 14 Jose Luis Cardoso Ducati ESP 1'40.716 15 Garry McCoy Imor SRT AUS -4 Laps Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'37.914 Rider Standings 15/10/2006 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 244 2. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 236 3. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 217 4. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 209 5. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 202 6. Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 126 7. Casey Stoner Honda AUS 119 8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 117 9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 111 10. Toni Elias Honda ESP 106 11. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 98 12. Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 95 13. Makato Tamada Honda JPN 92 14. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 83 15. Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 69 18. James Ellison Yamaha GBR 24 Team Standings 15/10/2006 Pos. Team Points 1. Repsol Honda Team 438 2. Camel Yamaha Team 361 3. Fortuna Honda Team 323 4. Ducati Marlboro Team 311 5. Rizla Suzuki 209 6. Team Roberts KR 126 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 120 8. Honda LCR 119 9. Tech3 Yamaha 93 10. Konica Minolta Honda 92 11. Pramac D'Antin 33 12. none 1 Manufacturer Standings 15/10/2006 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 344 2. Yamaha 282 3. Ducati 223 4. Suzuki 146 5. Team Robert KR 126 6. Kawasaki 100 7. Imor SRT 1 Click here to view the news

With FIM MX1 World Championship leader Josh Coppins out of action due to a small shoulder break and second rider Marc de Reuver unable to get to grips with narrow and fast circuit at Namur, Yamaha Motocross Team were unfortunately without a representative for the Grand Prix of Belgium and the twelfth round of fifteen in the 2007 series watched by a 31,000 crowd today. The injury to Coppins - that hopefully should only mean a one race absence - and De Reuver's unsuccessful attempts to post a lap-time that put him in the top thirty on Saturday meant that the Italian team were not able to count on a rider for Sunday's races for the first time ever in their long and successful history. Prior to last week's GP of Czech Republic, Coppins had been present on the podium at nine of ten races, winning five. After Sebastien Pourcel won the Grand Prix with David Philippaerts second and Tanel Leok third, Coppins' advantage in the rider's standings has been reduced from 77 to 43 points - Steve Ramon was fifth overall - with three rounds (Ireland, Britain and Holland) remaining and 150 points left to win. For De Reuver a practice crash and a lack of confidence around the 'enduro-esque' 2500m circuit (tight, bumpy, dark and tree-lined) saw him miss the qualification cut-off mark for the first occasion since he entered Grand Prix racing in 2001. The world championship will reconvene at Moneyglass Demense for the Grand Prix of Northern Ireland in two weeks time and the meeting will be the first of three weekends in a row leading to the climax of the season. Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "We honestly don't know what happened with Marc and I don't think he does either. He is completely lost at the moment in terms of confidence and motivation. He did not complain about the bike but admitted that he was scared out there. We are trying to support him as much as possible in many different ways but something needs to click inside of him and there is only so much we can do. There is no more news about Josh's injury at the moment. We have to wait a bit more to see what condition he might be in for Ireland. He will try to ride just before the GP." Click here to view the news

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will contest his home Grand Prix at Laguna Seca this weekend in a one-off special livery, starting from first practice on Friday. The popular American is well known to his legion of fans, both on home shores and worldwide, as the ‘Texas Tornado' and this weekend's livery has been inspired by his famous nickname. The livery, which is Fiat Yamaha's second change of the season following the ‘Fiat 500' inspired bikes in Assen, represents a personal tribute to the two-time World Superbike champion and Edwards has been influential in the design process. "I'm really happy with the final result!" said the 33-year old Texan. "The finished article is exactly how I imagined and I think it's transmitting just the message we were after, mixing the idea of the tornado with the American flag. I'm always very proud to race in front of my home fans and I'm especially pleased to have something extra special to give them this weekend; I'd like to say a big thank you to Fiat for giving me the chance to do something different!" Edwards' bike will be unveiled today, Thursday 19th July, at 1700 local time in Pit Lane at the Laguna Seca circuit. Click here to view the news

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards rode a strong race in sweltering conditions today to take a best-ever Sachsenring finish of fourth, after starting from thirteenth on the grid for the German Grand Prix. Team-mate Valentino Rossi had a disappointing day as he slid out of the race early on when challenging for sixth position, in a race which was led from start to finish by Dani Pedrosa. In front of 101,083 fans and with temperatures touching 33 degrees, today's thirty-lap race looked like being a test of endurance - both for riders and tyres. Rossi started from sixth but dropped to eighth at the start, taking two laps to pass Alex Barros before finding himself in seventh behind Randy de Puniet on lap three. He soon made his move on the Frenchman and looked to be safely through but a small mistake proved costly and sent him tumbling into the gravel trap. Edwards meanwhile was making steady progress through the pack as he gained more and more confidence in his M1 and his Michelin tyres. On lap 24 he suddenly found himself within striking distance of Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner, passing them both on the next lap to take fourth. With a podium in his sights he set about trying to close the gap on Nicky Hayden but was not quite able to catch his fellow American, eventually crossing the line just under two tenths adrift. Rossi remains second in the championship but the gap to Stoner grows to 32 points, whilst Edwards consolidates seventh after taking 13 points today. Colin Edwards Position: 4thTime: +18.299 "The beginning of that race was pretty tough, I almost crashed out a few times and it felt like I almost had too much grip on the rear! As time went on though I started to feel better and better and when Hayden passed me back again it made me pretty determined to keep pushing. Suddenly I looked up and there were three of them in front of me and at that stage I felt like the podium was a possibility. Getting past Stoner and Melandri was fine but I couldn't quite get back to Hayden which was a pity. A podium would have been nice but, after yesterday's qualifying, I'm pretty happy with fourth; it's my best ever finish here by miles. It was an exhausting race and you don't realise till you cross the finish line how much strain thirty laps around here puts on the left side of your body - my shoulder's pretty sore now! I want to say a big thank you to Michelin, my team and Yamaha because they've had to work really hard this weekend to find a way to make things come together and they did a great job. We knew this morning that we'd found a good package and to finish fourth after starting thirteenth is great. We're heading for Laguna on a high!" Valentino Rossi Position: DNFTime: - "Unfortunately I made a mistake today and I want to say sorry to everyone - my team, Yamaha and of course all my fans. I lost some places at the start and had to wait a lap before I could start to push, but everything was feeling very good. Getting past de Puniet was hard because in the part of the track where it's best to overtake he was very fast. Finally I made my move and I made a great pass but I made a mistake and lost the front. I'm so disappointed because today our package was working very well and we missed the chance to make up a lot of points on Stoner. We know from Pedrosa and Colin's performance that the Michelin tyres worked well until the end and I'm sad that we weren't there to fight. Luckily Stoner was only fifth so the points situation is not as bad as it could have been. I'm very glad we only have seven days until the next race because right now I'm feeling quite bad, but very determined for America!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "Congratulations to Colin, it's a great result for him and it gives him and his team a lot of encouragement and confidence for his home race in Laguna Seca. Michelin did a good job this weekend and our tyres worked very well until the end. On the other side, it's a great disappointment with Valentino because we lost the chance to recover some points. However this is racing and we know that our package is working very well now and we will get the chance to try again in just one week's time. Today gives us double motivation for Laguna." Disappointing weekend for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 In the extreme temperatures that engulfed the German Grand Prix held at the challenging Sachsenring circuit in the picturesque undulating hills in the east of Germany the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team proved to be a difficult weekend for team riders Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada. The weekend looked promising after MotoGP rookie Sylvain Guintoli claimed his best qualifying position of the year in ninth fastest position but unfortunately race day didn¹t reflect his progress. Sylvain failed to finish the race after a mishap during the opening lap of the race caused him to crash. His teammate Makoto Tamada also had a weekend to forget as he was never on the pace all weekend struggling to be comfortable to the bike to finish 13th. Makoto Tamada Position: 13thTime: +2 laps This was a very disappointing weekend for me as I never felt happy with the bike. I tried everything but I wasn¹t comfortable and I could never find a good rhythm. During the race nothing changed and I decided to pit to change a tyre to see if that would improve my confidence and make me push hard but still I didn¹t feel good in my riding. I have to think very hard about this weekend and hopefully use it to improve my feeling for next weekend in America. Sylvain Guintoli Position: DNFTime: - To say I¹m extremely disappointed is an understatement as I felt that I could¹ve done something very good this weekend after such a good qualifying. I got off the line well and pushed very hard dicing with Colin Edwards, which was very good for my confidence. At the end of the fourth lap when I was coming into the last corner I noticed that the engine revs dropped to be very low. This caused me to run wide onto the dirty part of the track and I lost the rear, which caused me to highside. All I can do now is put this behind me and hope to continue with some good progress next weekend at Laguna. Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This weekend is a very big disappointment as we were hoping for quite a high result because last year here we had our best result when we finished just 17 seconds behind the winner. Also Sylvain scored his best qualifying result on Saturday when he was ninth fastest so to come away with these results is very hard to accept. We knew Sylvain was going to push hard as he was determined to make up for his bad starts he has had lately but it was not to be. Sachsenring is a very tight track and if you get offline here it can bite hard and unfortunately that is what happened to Sylvain. As for Makoto I don¹t know what happened as he was off the pace all weekend so it is very puzzling for everyone in the team as they put in so much work to give him the best package possible. Circuit Length: 3671 Temp: 33 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP Germany - Sachsenring 15/07/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 41'53.196 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'13.166 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'16.771 4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'18.299 5 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'31.426 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'31.917 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'33.395 8 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 0'41.194 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'43.214 10 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'44.459 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'1.894 12 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA 1'10.721 13 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -2 Laps 14 Carlos Checa Honda ESP -3 Laps Rider Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 196 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 164 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 144 4. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 103 5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 97 6. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 93 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 88 8. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 77 9. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 73 10. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 69 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 60 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 27 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 25 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 23 18. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 18 Team Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 273 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 252 3. Repsol Honda Team 217 4. Rizla Suzuki 196 5. Honda Gresini 146 6. Pramac D'Antin 129 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 69 8. Tech3 Yamaha 41 9. Honda LCR 27 10. Konica Minolta Honda 25 11. Team Roberts 12 12. none 6 Manufacturer Standings 15/07/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 208 2. Yamaha 184 3. Honda 174 4. Suzuki 131 5. Kawasaki 64 6. KR212V 12 Click here to view the news

Valentino Rossi put in one of the outstanding performances of his career aboard his one-off liveried 'Cinquecento' Fiat Yamaha at the Dutch TT today, taking a superb victory from 11th on the grid. His third win of the season is also Yamaha's 150th in total in the premier class of Grand Prix racing. Colin Edwards' was unable to match the outstanding performance of his team-mate today but nonetheless rode a solid race to finish in his grid position of sixth. After difficulties in yesterday's wet qualifying Rossi was left with a mountain to climb today and, with championship rival Casey Stoner starting from the front row, there was no room for error from the Italian. Rossi made up little ground at the start but after the first couple of laps he found his rhythm and began a spectacular charge to the front, passing rider after rider with a series of bold moves and eventually making his way up to second behind Stoner by lap 12 of 26, setting a string of fastest laps on the way. The seven-time world champion was then faced with the task of closing a gap of almost two seconds to the championship leader but within just a few laps he had done just that and moved to within striking distance of the lead. It was no easy job to pass the Australian however and he made several unsuccessful attempts before finally making a pass stick through the chicane with three laps remaining, eventually crossing the line 1.909 seconds clear. Edwards meanwhile was unable to capitalise on his fast race pace and, although he was lapping at a similar pace to the front runners throughout, he was unable to close the gap after being caught in traffic at the start. Rossi's maximum-points haul today closes the gap to Stoner at the top of the standings to 21 points, whilst Edwards' ten points see him hold onto seventh at the half-way point of the season. Valentino Rossi - 1st 42'37.1497 "This was an incredible race. I think maybe one of the top five of my career! Clearly starting from 11th is quite lucky for us because I've won a few times from that position, including last year at Sachsenring. Last night I didn't sleep so well and I couldn't have imagined that the race could turn out like this, in fact I was really a little bit worried after the qualifying and didn't know what to expect today! Once I got going though I saw that I had a great pace and so I just rode as hard as I could to get past everyone because I knew then that I could come back to Casey. When I finally got there I was quite tired, as were my tyres, plus he was riding very well and it was hard to overtake him, but my M1 worked brilliantly today and in the last few laps I was able to go past and win. I have to say a big thank you to Michelin and to my team, because today our package was brilliant and I was able to ride at the maximum. I'm so happy to win here in Assen, it's a special place for me and this is a great emotion! It was nice to have a special livery here as well, in the past I haven't been so lucky with new liveries but hopefully today has turned that around! Congratulations to Yamaha for 150 wins, I am glad that we could celebrate like this!" Colin Edwards - 6th +15.139 "My start wasn't too bad but I got tangled up in a bit of a jumble through the first couple of laps and Pedrosa passed me. Once I got myself sorted I set off with Melandri and Vermeulen in my sights and I thought I'd be able to get past them relatively easily because my pace was pretty good, but I couldn't quite get close enough for a few laps. Eventually I got through them both and really got my head down; I was lapping faster than I have been all weekend and actually at one stage I thought the podium was a possibility. I was pushing pretty hard to be honest and I had a couple of close moments but I didn't want to settle for sixth. Things were going okay until there was a stage of the race when things started to feel not quite 100% and I had to slack off a little. Towards the end I started to catch Hopkins again and started to get back to a good pace but unfortunately by then he'd pulled a couple of seconds from me and I just ran out of time. Congratulations to Valentino, he rode an incredible race today." Davide Brivio - Team Director "This was a fantastic race with which to celebrate Yamaha's 150th win and we couldn't have dreamed of a better race than this after yesterday's qualifying. Valentino was incredible once again and he rode a truly amazing race. The package we had today, with the bike and the tyres working so well, gave Valentino the chance to ride at the maximum so we have to say a big thank you to Michelin, Yamaha and the whole team. It was a great emotion for everyone to watch Valentino ride like this today. Colin also did a good race and he had a fast pace throughout, although unfortunately he wasn't able to close the gap to the front. He was doing similar times to the leaders though so this is encouraging for the next races. It's going to be a hard fight for the rest of year but we have a lot of motivation. It's been a fun story with Fiat this weekend as well with our special livery and it's definitely a great start to the story of the new Fiat 500!" Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 in dynamic dogfight The Dutch TT at Assen in the north of the Netherlands provided a dynamic spectacle for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team as riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were involved in a titanic dog fight with up to six riders for a top 10 finish in an enthralling race won by fellow Yamaha rider, Valentino Rossi in front of over 91,000 fans. It appeared quite possible that both riders may have been able to provide the team with its best result of the 2007 MotoGP World Championship but in the end Tamada had to settle for 13th position while rookie MotoGP rider Guintoli brought his Yamaha M1 home in 14th place in another point scoring finish. Makoto Tamada - 13th +54.068 That was certainly a lot better race than last weekend and I am pretty happy with how it all happened but I really think we could've had a better result. I got a very good start and the bike and tyres felt really good for the first eight or ten laps and we were able to battle with a big group for seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth but then I lost some grip on the right hand side of the front tyre. The left side was fine but I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to. The rear tyre was also good throughout the race but it is a little strange because I've never had any trouble with the front tyre before. Anyway we know now that we are getting closer so we want some better results from now on. Sylvain Guintoli - 14th +57.718 It is still not the result I am wanting but at least we were closer than last week. I wasn't feeling too confident at the start and lost a bit of ground but then I was able to push and make some ground on the big bunch of riders in front of me with Melandri, West, Hofmann, Checa and Tamada. Everything seemed to be going well and I could keep a good pace with them but towards the end I was struggling a bit as the performance of the rear tyre dropped off. I thought I may be able to pass a few riders and I was faster than Makoto and could've passed him but with about three or four laps to go I had to ease off to make sure I brought it home. Hervé Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager We were happy to see the sun this morning as we are struggling in the wet but this race has shown that Dunlop have been working hard on development and this is good to see. In the first laps we were strong and it was very satisfying for everyone to see Makoto and Sylvain battling with a big group of riders and putting in faster laps than them but unfortunately in the last laps we couldn't maintain the pace and had to settle for the positions we finished. It was also good to be with other factory bikes for over two-thirds of the race but still it's very frustrating to see them go away at the end. These last two races have been good for Dunlop because they now have a lot of information for wet and dry conditions and we are confident we can make even more progress. Also I would like to offer congratulations to Valentino, Yamaha and the Fiat Yamaha Team for their performance today. It's great to see Yamaha on the top spot again. Circuit Length: 4555 Temp: 21 Crowd: 91000 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP Netherlands - Assen 30/06/2007 Race 1 - 26 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 42'37.149 2 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'1.909 3 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'6.077 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'10.465 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'13.138 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'15.139 7 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'36.075 8 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'41.768 9 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 0'43.605 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'43.796 11 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'43.826 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'47.896 13 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'54.068 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'57.718 15 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA 1'28.637 Rider Standings 30/06/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 185 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 164 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 119 4. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 94 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 88 6. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 87 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 75 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 69 9. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 57 10. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 53 12. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 25 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 25 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 20 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 18 Team Standings 30/06/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 242 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 239 3. Rizla Suzuki 182 4. Repsol Honda Team 176 5. Honda Gresini 136 6. Pramac D'Antin 122 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 61 8. Tech3 Yamaha 38 9. Konica Minolta Honda 25 10. Honda LCR 25 11. Team Roberts 8 Manufacturer Standings 30/06/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 188 2. Yamaha 171 3. Honda 149 4. Suzuki 122 5. Kawasaki 56 6. KR212V Click here to view the news

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards finished second in the British Grand Prix at Donington Park today, taking his second podium of the season after a fighting ride from pole position. His team-mate Valentino Rossi was disappointed to finish fourth but nonetheless managed to set another record in the process, overtaking Mick Doohan to take the title of most prolific points-scorer ever in the premier class, with a total of 2,303 points. After a brief respite yesterday the British weather closed in again and the race was declared wet, although the rain failed to deter the 84,785 fans who had turned out to see their adopted heroes in action. Edwards, starting from pole for the second time this season, got a fantastic start and held the lead; whilst Rossi was edged out by Dani Pedrosa and was third into turn one. Pedrosa found his way past Edwards on the first lap but the Texan stayed on his tail and was able to take the lead again on lap five. For the next ten laps things looked promising as Edwards held the lead over Casey Stoner, who had risen to second from seventh on the grid. However as the rain stopped and a dry-line appeared Edwards began to struggle with grip and Stoner came through. Despite keeping up a fairly consistent pace until the end, Edwards was powerless to stay with the Australian and eventually crossed the line 11.768 seconds behind the championship leader. Rossi meanwhile had a somewhat more eventful race, finding himself as far down as eighth at one point and making a small foray off-track on lap eleven. After fighting back through the order he looked like holding onto the last podium place behind Edwards, but with four laps to go Chris Vermeulen passed him and he was relegated to fourth. Today's race sees the gap from Stoner to Rossi stretched to 26 points, whilst Edwards' haul of twenty points moves him three places up the order to seventh. Colin Edwards - Position: 2ndTime: +11.768 "We had good race! I had a great start, better than any of my practice ones during the weekend, and then I just got my head down and kept pushing lap after lap. My bike was feeling good in the wet but then it started to dry out. I started braking a bit harder and feeling more confident, but then the front locked once into the chicane which gave me a bit of a scare. Then at the next corner, down at the hairpin, I locked it again, ran wide and Casey came through. After that I tried everything but I couldn't stay with him and it was clear that I didn't have the grip he had. It was pretty tough, but then I guess it was tough for everyone! You could see the dry line forming and rain tyres with a dry track don't work well! I just had to pay attention and take care not to spin it too much, using half throttle instead of spinning it up. Anyway, we did the best we could today and it feels good to be back on the podium, so a big thanks to all my guys. We've made a lot of progress this weekend and now we'll carry the momentum on to Assen next week! Hats off to Casey too, he did a great job today." Valentino Rossi - Position: 4thTime: +21.827 "Unfortunately today the conditions were not good for us at all and we had a lot of problems. In the full dry we would have been at our strongest, in full wet we would have been also quite good, but with a drying track like this we struggled a lot. I made a mistake and ran off the track when I was going the best I went during the whole race and then as the track began to dry I had less and less grip; it seems that this year, when the conditions aren't perfect, we suffer a lot. I had to go very carefully just to be able to finish and, because we were riding with a wet tyre on a dry track, my tyre was destroyed by the end. Colin did a great job in difficult circumstances so congratulations to him. We've had a very long meeting tonight and now we have to try to improve the situation for Assen." Davide Brivio - Team Director "We're very happy for Colin to be back on the podium, he did a great job all weekend so well done to him. Now he has found his confidence again and hopefully he can carry on like this. For Valentino it was a very difficult race and he had quite a lot of problems in the difficult conditions. We have some work to do but Colin's result is very encouraging for the whole team and now we go straight to Assen to have the chance to make up for this weekend with Valentino. We'll keep working as hard as we can and hopefully we can get back to our best very quickly." Disappointing weekend in Donington for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team In weather conditions more akin to the middle of winter, the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 had its most disappointing weekend of the 2007 MotoGP season. On a circuit that offers very little grip, the elements did all they could to make the weekend worse with a track temperature that hovered around 20 degrees Celcius with persistent rain present throughout most of the weekend. While the overall result may be extremely hard to swallow for the team, riders Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli were able to provide the Dunlop engineers with plenty of information that will be utilised for the future. The team will now regroup and head to the legendary Assen circuit in Holland as the championship reaches the halfway point of the season. Makoto Tamada - Position: 15thTime: +2 laps That was a very difficult race and weekend for me. I could not apply the power too hard as on the exit of every corner I was having some very big slides from the rear plus when I was trying to brake for the corners I had no feeling in the front and so in these very bad conditions it was impossible to do anything better Sylvain Guintoli - Position: 16thTime: +2 laps I am extremely disappointed with this weekend as I thought we could get a better result especially seeing it was my birthday today but with the weather it was not going to happen. I couldn't push too hard or actually fight with anybody in front of me as I was too busy looking behind me to see when the leaders would catch me. I had no grip and as soon as I tried to go faster I nearly crashed everytime so I decided to ride to finish the race. I crashed in practice at over 200km/h and I didn't feel like doing that again. I was also getting a lot of wheelspin so I had to change gears while still in the midrange of the powerband. I am disappointed that I failed to score any points as I have in every other race so now we have to put this behind us and hope for better weather in Holland next week Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This has been a very frustrating weekend. We came here expecting a good result in the dry but unfortunately it rained and we were nowhere. The only positive we can take out of this weekend is that our riders did a lot of laps in the wet so both our riders could give a lot of feedback to the Dunlop engineers to improve the wet weather tyres as we are so far behind Hopefully the sun will shine on us in Holland as we have made good progress in the dry and we can continue that improvement next weekend. Circuit Length: 4023 Weather: Changeable 2007 MotoGP Great Britain - Donington Park 24/06/2007 Race 1 - 30 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 51'40.739 2 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'11.768 3 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'15.678 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'21.827 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'35.518 6 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'36.474 7 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'38.094 8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'38.992 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'39.239 10 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'1.526 11 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 1'6.486 12 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'34.074 13 Kurtis Roberts KR212V USA -1 Laps 14 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN -1 Laps 15 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -2 Laps 16 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA -2 Laps Rider Standings 24/06/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 165 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 139 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 106 4. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 88 5. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 83 6. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 81 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 65 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 60 9. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 10. Toni Elias Honda ESP 49 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 45 12. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 41 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 40 14. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 21 15. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 17 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 16 Team Standings 24/06/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 222 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 204 3. Rizla Suzuki 171 4. Repsol Honda Team 147 5. Honda Gresini 130 6. Pramac D'Antin 105 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 54 8. Tech3 Yamaha 33 9. Konica Minolta Honda 21 10. Honda LCR 20 11. Team Roberts 7 Manufacturer Standings 24/06/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 168 2. Yamaha 146 3. Honda 133 4. Suzuki 111 5. Kawasaki 49 6. KR212V 7 Click here to view the news

Troy Corser recently got the chance to compare the new 2007 YZF-R1 to his own Yamaha Motor Italia WSB bike and was pleasantly surprised by his findings. The two-time World Superbike Champion was attending an exclusive event for a selection of VIP Yamaha guests when he grabbed the opportunity to try the R1 and the R6 for size. The two-day event took place at the Valencia circuit, which is familiar to Corser as it features on the World Superbike calendar, and gave selected riders from around Europe the opportunity to ride the track with tuition provided for free. “With the R1 I was really surprised how much power there is on the standard bike; there’s plenty enough there to get the front wheel up in first, second and third without trying!” said Corser. “I was in Valencia to meet some Yamaha competition winners when the chance came up to do some demonstration laps at the circuit so, naturally, I grabbed the chance. I took the R1 out first and was surprised by the strength of the engine; it’s quite something for a stock road bike! I’ve not ridden the standard version before but it felt very comfortable with quite a neutral position. This will make it quite roomy even for the larger rider. The handlebars are higher than on my race bike which I’m sure will make it better for longer distance riding.” The YZF-R1 first appeared on roads around the world at the end of 1997. Billed as a ‘no compromise’ machine for road riders, the R1 takes a lot of cues from the race machine that Corser is more familiar with. The updated version for 2007 even includes fly-by-wire throttle, a re-designed delta-box frame and sleek new styling amongst other modifications. Corser’s racing version of the R1 features different engine components, exhaust, brakes and suspension but all this is bolted onto a similar chassis to the road-going version. Corser certainly seemed impressed, “I can see why these bikes are so popular.” Corser’s last ride on a 600cc bike was over fifteen years ago when he raced a Yamaha back in Australia. After a few laps on the R1 Troy then jumped on the latest incarnation of the YZF-R6 to see how much it had changed. “I can’t believe how much it has changed! It is smaller than the R1 but just as much fun. The power delivery is softer than on the R1 but it revs really high, much higher than the R1, which makes for good amounts of fun on the track or the road,” Corser said after his first ride of the R6. “To be honest the chassis on the R6 feels pretty close to the chassis on my race bike and it handles well. Overall it’s an impressive little package.” The 2007 YZF-R6, like its big brother, comes packed with racing DNA and includes many of the features found on the R1. Click here to view the news

Valentino Rossi rode his Yamaha M1 to a fighting second place in Catalunya today after an exhilarating battle with Casey Stoner, the Australian eventually taking the flag just 0.069 seconds ahead of the Fiat Yamaha rider after a nail-biting final few laps. Rossi 96th premier-class podium gives him yet another record as it takes him above Mick Doohan as the rider with the most podium finishes ever in the top class of Grand Prix racing. His team-mate Edwards suffered from grip issues throughout and was unable to stick with the leading pack from sixth on the grid, eventually finishing in tenth. After starting from pole, Rossi found himself down in fourth on lap one and was then forced to push hard in the first three laps to get past John Hopkins before he could begin to close the gap to Dani Pedrosa, who was by then following Stoner in second place. On lap eleven of 25 Rossi made his move on the local favourite, the cheer from the grandstands proving that there was however a sizeable Italian element amongst the 112,600-strong crowd. Rossi soon started looking for passing opportunities on Stoner, making his first successful bid at the end of lap eighteen before relinquishing the lead back to the Australian on the next lap. From then on the fans were treated to some vintage wheel-to-wheel racing from the pair, with Pedrosa also in close contention, and an incredible number of passes made in several different parts of the track. Going into the penultimate lap however Stoner made his decisive move and Rossi was unable to peg him back, despite throwing every effort at it. Despite a promising qualifying performance yesterday, today' was not Edwards' day and he slipped several places at the start and ran a lonely race further down the order, although a last-lap pass on Nicky Hayden moved him up one position to take tenth and six points. Twenty points for Rossi today m eans he is now fourteen behind Stoner after seven races, whilst Edwards remains tenth in the standings. After two races on the trot there is now a ten-day break before the MotoGP circus heads to Donington for the Grand Prix of Great Britain, another of Rossi's favourite hunting grounds. Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: +0.069 "What a race! Even if I'm disappointed not to win, it's a great emotion to be part of a race like that and fantastic fun. It really was an amazing battle to the end with many wonderful overtaking manoeuvres by both of us in all different parts of the track! Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the start and then it was quite hard to pass Hopkins because he was fantastic on the brakes. Then with Stoner it was a great fight and honestly I couldn't have tried harder to win, but he was a very hard rival. There were some places were we could have been better today, not just on the straight but also in some corners, but anyway it was a great experience and it will help us to understand what we need to do to keep on improving. Yamaha and Michelin are working very hard and the fact that we could fight like this today to the very end showed this. Of course I'm sad because I've won a lot of times here in Montmelo and I wanted to win again, but like I said, I don't think I could have done anymore today! We know that we can beat Stoner but today he rode like a god and he's a fantastic rival, so congratulations to him." Colin Edwards Position: 10thTime: +35.348 "Today was pretty much impossible for me; I had no grip in the rear from the start and I just couldn't get into a rhythm. Basically I couldn't load the front or turn the bike how I wanted. We've done everything this weekend, changed all the settings, springs, load etc, but we haven't been able to crack the problem. Qualifying was okay but today I just couldn't ride it. Tomorrow's our last test until after Brno and the only thing to do is use every single possible minute we have on track to get to the bottom of the problem so we're in better shape for the next few races, which are at some of my favourite tracks." Davide Brivio - Team Director "Not to win after an incredible race like that, with a rider that can fight like Valentino, is of course a strange feeling! It was a fantastic spectacle for everyone between three great riders but Stoner was very strong today and he won, despite Valentino doing everything he could. It's a very exciting championship but we're not even half way yet and we're only fourteen points down. Now we have to work hard to try to give Valentino the best possible bike at every track so that he can continue to ride like this, and win! With Colin we've had a difficult weekend but now we have two of his best circuits to look forward to. We'll look at the data from the last two races and use it to try to find the right package for him so that he can transmit his good qualifying performances to the race. We'll keep on fighting!" Points scoring results continue for Dunlop Yamaha Tech3 Under scorching summer skies, the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 continued to score points in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship as riders, Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli finished 12th and 14th respectively in an enthralling Grand Prix of Catalunya at Barcelona. Over the weekend both riders continued using the new Dunlop 16 inch front tyre that was introduced at the previous round in Italy. Dunlop also brought a wide selection of new specification rear tyres with riders and team impressed with the performance and endurance. The team will remain in Catalunya for a day's testing tomorrow with an intense tyre testing program to further evaluate this new generation of tyres. Makoto Tamada Position: 12thTime: +38.720 This was the best race for me so far this year as I was very close to the world champion, Nicky Hayden and also Colin Edwards on another Yamaha. I did hope to have a better finish as I think if I didn't have a few problems with some chatter in the middle of the race I am sure I could have passed them but I am very happy with the performance of the tyres. Dunlop brought new tyres to this race and both the new 16 inch front and new rear tyres are working very well They stayed constant for most of the race as the grip level and spinning didn't change much. This is good as the day was very hot and as we didn't test too many of the tyres we had and I know we are improving. Sylvain Guintoli Position: 14thTime: +44.399 Again I have had a good weekend as we made good progress over the three days. I like this track and we also had a good qualifying session plus I have continued to score points in every race. This is a good boost to my confidence in my first year of MotoGP. I didn't get the best of starts but I pushed hard for all the race and for the first ten laps I had great rhythm but I also had a few problems with a bit of chatter during the race but this can be expected with new tyres since we have changed to the 16 in front tyre. I was fast straight away and Colin (Edwards) wasn't pulling away too much but it is a little frustrating that I had to slow and drop off him a bit as I didn't want to risk a crash too much. We must be fairly happy as we didn't test all the tyres we wanted to and we only did eight or ten laps on each one before deciding on our race tyres as we had so much to test. I can now look forward to Donington which is like another home race as I now live not very far away from the track with my family. Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This is another good weekend for the team. I say that every week but truthfully we are becoming more competitive. We had another good qualifying session and during the race both riders performed well. Sylvain was very aggressive early on and his lap times were good compared to others before he struck a few problems with some chatter. During the second part of the race we were very close to Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden and we all felt that we could have passed them if the problems didn't occur. We now have good references to work with as the package of the tyres and the machine is improving all the time. This year the 800cc machines are more competitive with each other than ever before but we are proving competitive against other factory machines and beating some. With the new tyres we are now getting we are looking forward to the next races as we feel that Dunlop tyres work well at Donington and Assen. Circuit Length: 4727 Temp: 31 Crowd: 112.600 Weather: Hot and Sunny 2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 10/06/2007 Race 1 - 25 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 43'16.907 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'0.069 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'0.390 4 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'7.814 5 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'17.853 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'19.409 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'19.495 8 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'24.862 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'24.936 10 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'35.348 11 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'36.301 12 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 0'38.720 13 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'40.934 14 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'44.399 15 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 0'54.103 Rider Standings 10/06/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 140 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 126 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 98 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 75 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 72 6. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 72 7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 57 8. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 51 9. Toni Elias Honda ESP 45 10. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 45 11. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 41 12. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 38 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 30 14. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 19 16. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 16 17. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 16 Team Standings 10/06/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 197 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 171 3. Rizla Suzuki 144 4. Repsol Honda Team 139 5. Honda Gresini 120 6. Pramac D'Antin 89 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 39 8. Tech3 Yamaha 32 9. Honda LCR 20 10. Konica Minolta Honda 19 11. Team Roberts 4 Manufacturer Standings 10/06/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 143 2. Yamaha 126 3. Honda 125 4. Suzuki 95 5. Kawasaki 39 6. KR212V 4 Click here to view the news

Tomorrow's Grand Prix of Catalunya will see Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi start from pole position for the fourth time this season, after he put in another exemplary qualifying performance at Montmelo this afternoon. The Italian, who is seeking a ninth victory at this circuit, will also be aiming to break the current MotoGP pole position jinx to become the first rider to win from the front of the grid since Motegi last year. Team-mate Colin Edwards was only 0.4 seconds slower than Rossi in a close qualifying battle and will start from sixth for tomorrow's 25-lap race. This morning's free practice saw both Rossi and Edwards continue to make steady improvements to the set-up of their M1s and they finished the session fourth and ninth respectively. Temperatures then climbed steadily to reach a high of 33 degrees during Qualifying and, with similar conditions expected tomorrow, the pair spent the early part of the session perfecting their race settings under the scorching Spanish sun. With eight minutes remaining Rossi's first run with a Michelin qualifying tyre saw him put in the eventual pole time of 1'41.840 and also made him the only rider to dip under the previous pole record, which he set here last year. Edwards second effort saw him move as high as third at one point but some last minute fast times pushed him down to sixth and he will start from the outside of the front row tomorrow when the lights go out at 1400 local time. Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 1'41.840Laps: 27 "I'm really happy to have another pole position, this season our bike is working brilliantly with our Michelin qualifying tyres and at every race I have great fun during qualifying! Along with Mugello this is one of my favourite tracks and really I find it hard to decide which I like best! It's fun to have two great races together like this even if it's hard work without a rest in between. As usual it's going to be very important to start from the front tomorrow, but I think it's going to be a really hard battle anyway, especially in this heat. Pedrosa and Stoner look very strong and also Hopkins has a good pace, so I think we can expect a great fight for the fans to watch! Anyway we're starting in the best position, my M1 feels very good and we will be looking for another victory." Colin Edwards Position: 6thTime: 1'42.283Laps: 25 "Once again things felt pretty good on the qualifying tyres, although I didn't make the most of my first one so I had to rely on improving things second time around. My lap time was actually pretty good but everyone else was fast today too! Anyway, after the disaster of last week I'm happy enough with the second row! As for our race pace, we've made a few improvements but honestly we have three different types of tyres and I'm doing the same time on all of them - which is unfortunately a little off the pace. I think tomorrow morning we're going to try something we tried briefly yesterday with regards to tyres, it was the same then but we've made some improvements to the bike since and we think that it might work. Anyway, here's hoping!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "Another pole position - this year we're gathering quite a few! As always it's nice to start from pole position and it gives us some confidence for the race. Also to have Colin on the second row is good after last week and hopefully we can finish the day with both riders at the top. Valentino seems to be in good shape with his race pace as well but he needs to be very strong because it's going to be very competitive, with three or four riders looking very fast. Colin will push from the start too and hopefully he can stay with the rest of the group. Let's see what happens but we're expecting an exciting race!" Circuit Length: 4727 Temp: 33 Weather: Sunny 2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 09/06/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'41.840 2 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'41.901 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'42.002 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'42.117 5 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'42.233 6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'42.283 7 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'42.522 8 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'42.607 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'42.623 10 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'42.860 11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'42.967 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'43.334 13 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 1'43.557 14 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 1'43.722 15 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'43.729 16 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 1'43.947 Click here to view the news

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi rounded off the first day of the Grand Prix of Catalunya in positive fashion today, setting the second fastest time of the day on his penultimate lap as temperatures climbed into the thirties at Montmelo. Fresh from a spectacular victory at his home-race in Italy last Sunday, Rossi and his team arrived here on a high and wasted no time in getting down to business this morning as they seek their first back-to-back set of victories since their Mugello-Barcelona double last year. Team-mate Colin Edwards finished the day slightly further down the order in eighth, one of many riders who did not better their time from the morning session. After a difficult weekend in Mugello however, when he failed to find a comfortable bike set-up all weekend, the Texan is feeling much more positive about this race. The team still have some work to do tomorrow but Edwards is confident of further improvements and a return to the strong qualifying form he has shown at most races so far this season. Rossi's lap of 1'43.313 was good enough to top the time sheets in this afternoon's second free practice session but the overall number one spot today went to Dani Pedrosa, who set a lap of 1'43.099 in this morning's cooler session. With twelve riders inside a second today tomorrow's hour-long qualifying session looks like being a close one when the action kicks off at 1345 local time. Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: 1'43.313Laps: 53 "We've made a good start to the weekend and my bike is already going very well. This morning was okay but then this afternoon especially we made a lot of steps forward with the tyres and with the setting. We've got a few different options for our tyre choice and we seem to have good grip in the long corners, which is very important at this track. Now tomorrow we will continue with our work and make a final decision about tyres. I found a strong rhythm straight away today and this afternoon I put in a consistent run of laps - almost a half-race distance - and things are already feeling good for Sunday. We still have some improvements to make with the setting and hopefully with a few modifications we'll be going even better tomorrow. However it's a long race and if it's as hot as this then it's going to be a battle of physical strength for everyone!" Colin Edwards Position: 8thTime: 1'43.768Laps: 50 "My position doesn't really show it but actually we're not in bad shape today, considering where we were this time a week ago in Italy! We're missing a bit of traction but we've got some ideas to work on overnight and tomorrow which will hopefully help us in this department. Our forte is entry and corner speed so we'll work on honing those for this track and hopefully that will give us an advantage. As for tyres, nothing's really jumping out at us today but we've got three or four that feel okay so with some more laps we should be in a better position to make a decision for Sunday. Anyway I'm feeling a lot happier here than I was in Mugello and with any luck we can be back in fine form for qualifying tomorrow." Davide Brivio - Team Director "We've made a very good start with Valentino and it seems he's in good shape already. Luckily the weather is better here and so we were able to do a good day's testing and get some helpful information regarding tyres. Tomorrow we will look to fine-tune the setting and make our final tyre choice, but we're already at a good level. Colin is a bit further back but the times are very close and we have some good ideas about what's needed tomorrow to bring him even closer to the top." Circuit Length: 4727 2007 MotoGP - Catalunya 08/06/2007 Free Practice Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'43.099 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'43.313 3 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'43.389 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'43.543 5 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'43.551 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'43.631 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'43.713 8 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'43.768 9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'43.811 9 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 1'43.857 11 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'43.866 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'44.003 13 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'44.141 14 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'44.267 15 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 1'44.466 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 1'44.665 18 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 1'44.743 Click here to view the news

The Fiat Yamaha Team will float across the Mediterranean on cloud nine this week as they follow the MotoGP World Championship trail to Barcelona on the back of a stunning victory for Valentino Rossi at Mugello. Rossi's 25-point haul in front of his adoring home fans has propelled him to within striking distance of series leader Casey Stoner, who now holds a precarious advantage of just nine points, and provided a real boost in confidence as the team head to one of Rossi's happiest hunting grounds. Not only is the Catalonian capital one of Rossi's favourite cities, but the circuit they built as part of their Olympic Games project back in 1992 has seen the multi-World Champion grace the top step of the podium on no fewer than eight occasions in all classes. For the past three seasons the 28-year-old has taken MotoGP victory there for Yamaha and, after enjoying the much-improved engine performance of the YZR-M1 down the long straight of his home track, he has every reason to be optimistic of a repeat result this Sunday. For Colin Edwards the ferry ride to the north-eastern coast of Spain represents a welcome opportunity to put last weekend's events behind him as soon as possible. The Texan has struggled to find a comfortable set-up for his machine at the past two races and after suffering from the limited track time afforded by the changeable weather in France and Italy he will be hoping for a more traditional June climate on the Iberian peninsular. Like Mugello, and some of this year's previously visited tracks such as Losail, Shanghai and Istanbul, the Circuit de Catalunya features a main straight that is amongst the longest in the world. The rest of the track is characterised by long radius, medium and high-speed sweepers, with two tight left-hand hairpins thrown into the mix. This variation combined with regular changes i n camber makes the circuit particularly demanding on chassis balance and means that front-end feel is a key concern for every rider. Valentino Rossi - "A Spanish party!" After enjoying the raucous backing of over 85,000 fans at his home circuit, Valentino Rossi is looking forward to yet more passionate support in Barcelona this Sunday. Despite the recent success of local rider Dani Pedrosa, Rossi remains a firm favourite with the Spanish fans and always looks forward to performing for them, whether it be at Barcelona, Jerez or Valencia. "Barcelona is always a great race for me and I've won there the last three years with Yamaha, so hopefully we can do it again," says Rossi. "I am lucky to have lots of fans in Spain, even though I have had some close rivalries with Spanish riders, and it is always a pleasure to ride in front of them. I got a fantastic reception when I won the race at Jerez earlier in the season so hopefully I can start the same kind of party in Barcelona. "Dani Pedrosa will also have a lot of support this weekend and I expect him to be a difficult rival once again after such a good race at Mugello. Also Stoner will be strong, especially down the long straight, but Yamaha and Michelin have worked really hard to close the gap on our rivals and I think we are ready to battle with them at every track now. After Mugello we have three more races at three of my favourite tracks so hopefully we can continue with the good progress we have made recently and be back on top of the podium again!" Colin Edwards - "Moving on" Despite making a bright start to the season a run of bad luck and even worse weather has hindered the progress of Colin Edwards in recent weeks, leaving him languishing in tenth place in the championship. The 'Texas Tornado' is desperate for three fully dry free practice sessions this weekend as he aims to rediscover feeling and confidence with his YZR-M1 but in any case he has a good record at the circuit in wet conditions, having won the ultra-competitive pre-season 'qualifying' session in a torrential downpour just over a year ago. "Mugello was a nightmare for me but it's behind us now and luckily Barcelona is a track I like a lot more," says Edwards. "I know I'm good in the wet there too after winning the 'qualifying' at the pre-season test in 2006 so if we get hit by the bad weather that seems to have been following us around then we should be okay this time! "Basically we've got to get our heads down from Friday morning and be right up there from the very first session. We lost one of only two dry practices in Mugello because we were trying something that didn't work and we can't afford for that to happen again. We know we've got the package to be competitive so it's just a case of making the right decisions, getting some confidence going again and moving forward." Davide Brivio - "Full of confidence" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio enjoyed a short celebration after the team's home Grand Prix on Sunday evening but it was soon back to work for the whole staff as they hit the road for Barcelona. This weekend's race is the second of six over a seven-week spell that will put every team member to the test and firmly establish the serious contenders for the MotoGP World Championship title this season. "This is a really busy time for everyone but Mugello was a great boost and we go to Barcelona full of confidence and motivation," says Brivio. "We've have an excellent record at the Catalunya Circuit over the last few years and it's another of Valentino's favourite tracks. He was in fantastic form in Mugello and hopefully this will continue in Spain. "The team and Yamaha have done a brilliant job after some problems that we had and Valentino's win in Mugello showed that we're in a position to fight. We've found some extra top speed, although this is something we will keep on trying to improve, and Michelin have also made some good improvements with the tyres. Colin had a bad time in Italy but Barcelona suits him much better and we just need to keep working and find a way to get him back to the form he was showing a couple of races ago." Click here to view the news

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will launch his quest for a sixth consecutive home victory from the front row for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix, having kept his cool during a rain-battered Qualifying session to take the third grid spot. Despite some improvements to his race-pace during this morning's dry practice session, his team-mate Colin Edwards continued his unhappy relationship with Mugello this afternoon and could only manage a lowly 16th. A torrential rainstorm during the preceding 125cc session meant the MotoGP Qualifying got underway with riders on wet-weather tyres, although the track began to dry quickly with the help of a strong wind and lap times soon improved accordingly. As they approached the half way point the heavens opened again and the riders were forced to take shelter in the pits until the storm abated. Luckily it was short-lived and Rossi, who was currently sitting in eight position, got back out as quickly as possible and set about making the most of the remaining ten minutes. On full wet-weather tyres the Italian put in a consistent run of laps, getting faster and faster as the track began to dry out and clocking his best time of 2'01.695 on his penultimate lap, just 0.3 seconds than last week's race winner Chris Vermeulen. Pole position went to series-leader Casey Stoner, who put in a lap of 2'00.359 just before the storm when the track was at its driest. Edwards continued to struggle throughout the session and 16th place will see him head the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow's 23-lap race, which gets underway at 1400 local time. Valentino Rossi Position: 3rdTime: 2'01.695Laps: 20 "I'm very happy about this front row because today was really a bit of a 'casino' with the weather and I think anything could have happened! We started off with wet tyres and actually everything felt quite good, then it began to dry out very quickly because of the wind. I was actually a bit unlucky because I put a harder rear in to try to do a faster lap on the drying track just as it began to rain again in the middle of the session. I was in eighth place and as soon as it stopped raining again I knew I had to get out and try to improve my time. With full wets the bike worked very well and I was able to keep on doing faster and faster laps as the track dried out. We found a good tyre for the rain and actually it seems here we're okay in the wet and the dry. Anyway I really hope it's dry tomorrow, for the riders but especially for all the fans who are camping on the hillside. I think in the rain it's maybe not so much fun! It's important to be on the front row here, now we wait and see for the weather and hope for a good race - rain or sun!" Colin Edwards Position: 16thTime: 2'06.254Laps: 20 "Honestly I don't know what to say, I've always been good in the wet but this year it's just not working out at all. I'm losing everything on the corner entry; it's basically the same problem as I had in Le Mans. In the wet one or two seconds off the pace can be explained but six seconds? That's not right and I'm seriously disappointed. It seems I never have any luck at this track. Starting from 16th gives me a massive hill to climb in any conditions but I would definitely prefer it to be dry because I feel like we at least made some steps forward this morning with our dry set-up." Davide Brivio - Team Director "Valentino came out of what was a very difficult session with a great result, it's really important for him to be starting from the front row for his home race. I think he and his team did a brilliant job once they found him down in eighth place when it rained. He did well to stay out there and keep pushing on a drying track with wet tyres and he deserves to be on the front row. Colin still has some difficulties in the wet and now we will work hard to try to fix them and make him happier in these conditions. We're hoping for a dry race now, it will be better for everyone!" Circuit Length: 5245 Weather: Rain 2007 MotoGP Italy - Mugello 02/06/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 2'0.359 2 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2'1.381 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 2'1.695 4 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki FRA 2'1.709 5 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'1.797 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 2'2.001 7 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 2'2.443 8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 2'2.776 9 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 2'2.932 10 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 2'3.025 11 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 2'3.920 12 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 2'4.185 13 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 2'4.353 14 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 2'4.971 15 Toni Elias Honda ESP 2'5.592 16 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 2'6.254 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2'6.426 20 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2'9.080 Click here to view the news

UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni moved into second position in the Enduro 1 world championship standings following the fourth round of the '07 World Enduro Championship series held in Borno, Italy having claimed podium finishes on both days aboard his UFO Corse Yamaha WR250. Placing third on day one of his and the UFO Corse Yamaha team's home GP Simone then stepped one place higher on the rostrum with a second place finish on day two. In claiming a double podium result Simone moved into the runner-up spot in the E1 championship standings, one point ahead of his team-mate Cristobal Guerrero. With the GP of Italy proving to be anything but easy due to mixed weather, a demanding stone littered enduro test and a difficult extreme test Simone, like many riders, made several small mistakes and fell on more than one occasion on day one, which prevented him from finishing higher than third. Simone hoped not to make the same mistakes on day two as he had on day one and started the day well, despite heavy overnight rain making the opening lap extremely slippery. Disappointingly, Simone's promising start to the day was followed by two costly crashes in the extreme test, which cost him close to 40 seconds. Despite his mistakes Simone claimed a well deserved runner-up finish, equalling his highest result of the season. Finishing ahead of Albergoni on day one and less than six seconds behind E1 class winner Juha Salminen was Yamaha France rider Marc Germain. A specialist in wet and slippery conditions Marc came close to claiming his first win of the '07 season but fell just short of beating his Finnish rival. With Poland's Bartosz Oblucki claiming fourth on the opening day UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero placed fifth continuing his excellent debut season in the E1 class. Ensuring Yamaha claimed four of the top six positions in the E1 class on day one the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz placed sixth. With Albergoni finishing second on day two Sunday again proved to be another good day for Yamaha. With Finn Salminen topping the class results as he did on day one Maurizio Micheluz came frustratingly close to finishing third, he was denied his first podium result of the season by a slower rider blocking his way on one of the extreme tests. Placing fourth and just ten seconds behind eventual third place finisher Alessandro Belometti, Maurizio saw his result affected when a slower rider blocked a difficult climb on the extreme test leaving him no other option other than to stop and wait while the track was cleared. Dropping from the podium to fifth, due in part to a disappointing final extreme test, Marc Germain started the second day in the best possible way by winning the opening special test while Spanish UFO Corse Yamaha rider Cristobal Guerrero claimed sixth after being disadvantaged by being the first rider in the E1 class onto the day's extremely wet opening special test. Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 Second: "It's been a very good weekend for me, although I'm not so happy with third on day one. I made some small mistakes, which cost me time, so on day two I really pushed hard to make sure I got a better result. I really hoped that I could battle against Juha Salminen but he was so strong again. I was pleased with my performance though. I did make two crashes in the extreme test, where I lost 40 seconds, but I'm pleased with second." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Sixth, Day 2 Fourth: "I finished sixth on day one, which isn't so good, but I was not too far behind the riders that finished on the podium so I was quite happy. On day two I was fourth, which I am pleased with but it could have been better because I lost some time on the extreme test on the last lap because I had to wait for a slower rider who was stuck on one of the hills. I finished the day 10 seconds behind the third place rider and I know I lost much more time than that. I'm a little disappointed but my results and riding have been much better than in Spain and Portugal." Circuit Length: 4800 Crowd: 3250 Weather: Sunshine 2007 Enduro 1 Italy 29/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 51'54.150 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'5.590 3 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'17.070 4 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'26.540 5 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'27.210 6 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 0'54.590 7 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'47.550 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 3'10.260 9 Peter Bergvall Suzuki SWE 3'19.180 10 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 3'19.570 11 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 3'48.180 12 Roberto Bazzurri Husqvarna ITA 3'51.710 13 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 4'1.680 14 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 4'28.600 15 Pier Luigi Surini Honda ITA 4'54.610 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 55'42.720 2 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'40.800 3 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'47.290 4 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'57.400 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 2'6.110 6 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 2'6.910 7 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 4'10.820 8 Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 5'13.230 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 5'56.370 10 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 7'23.330 11 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 7'45.990 12 Mario Patrao Suzuki POR 8'56.320 13 Ryan Voase Kawasaki GBR 9'33.740 14 Pier Luigi Surini Honda ITA 10'17.240 15 Juraj Dozsa KTM SVK 11'6.010 Rider Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 200 2. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 140 3. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 139 4. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 137 5. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 135 6. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 125 7. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 99 8. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 91 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 67 10. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 59 11. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 56 12. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 50 13. Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 45 14. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40 15. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 Manufacturer Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 200 2. Yamaha 160 3. Husqvarna 125 4. Honda 86 5. TM 65 6. Suzuki 59 7. Kawasaki 48 RACE REPORT 29/05/2007 Johnny Aubert continues impressive run of results UFO Corse Yamaha team rider Johnny Aubert continued his impressive run of results in the '07 World Enduro Championship series by placing in third position in the Enduro 2 class on day one of the GP of Italy, staged in Borno. With his confidence high having won both days of the GP of Spain and the GP of Portugal Johnny saw his day one result affected by a big crash in the stone covered enduro test mid way through the day. Despite having parted company with his WR450 in spectacular style Johnny ended the day just 13 seconds behind the eventual second place rider Samuli Aro, but unable to stop Mika Ahola claiming his second win of the season. Disappointingly for Aubert a mechanic problem, when in sight of the finish, resulted in him failing to finish the second day, which dropped the Frenchman to third in the Enduro 2 world championship standings. Looking to claim his fifth consecutive day win in the '07 WEC series Johnny started the opening day of the GP of Italy by placing second in the E2 class on the opening test. Performing well on the second test before then winning the third, Aubert's crash in the second timed enduro test ended his hopes of winning. Nevertheless he continued to push hard and after close to one-hour of special test action claimed third. On day two Aubert again started well showing that he had the speed to win by topping four of the opening seven special tests. Holding a well deserved runner-up spot and with the finish of the event in sight Johnny then suffered a sudden mechanical problem, which disappointingly put him out of the event. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 DNF: "The first day was not so bad for me but I crashed on the enduro test and lost one minute, which meant that I was never going to be able to win. My speed was good but after a mistake like that there was no way I was going to catch up to Mika Ahola, he was riding too well. After my crash I just wanted to go as well as I could so to finish third was good." "Things were going well for me on day two but I had a problem with my bike's engine close to the finish. My bike stopped so I pushed it to the finish but I didn't score any points, which is disappointing. I would have struggled to win because Mika was again riding really well, but I was in second when my bike stopped so it's disappointing not to have finished on the podium like I did on day one." Circuit Length: 4800 Crowd: 3250 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 Italy 29/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 51'52.730 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'48.180 3 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 1'1.420 4 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'2.580 5 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 1'25.730 6 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 2'9.560 7 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 2'32.010 8 Joel Smets BMW BEL 2'42.280 9 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 2'46.630 10 Fausto Scovolo GasGas ITA 3'9.790 11 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 3'15.560 12 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 3'18.180 13 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 3'51.010 14 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 4'10.060 15 Giuliano Falgari Kawasaki ITA 4'20.460 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 54'44.820 2 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'21.240 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'23.900 4 Andrea Belotti KTM ITA 1'56.310 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'14.710 6 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'34.620 7 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 4'41.650 8 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 4'59.480 9 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 5'20.340 10 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 5'52.990 11 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 6'20.800 12 Giuliano Falgari Kawasaki ITA 6'47.940 13 Carmelo Mazzoleni Kawasaki ITA 11'10.170 14 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 18'12.550 Rider Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 183 2. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 167 3. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 152 4. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 126 5. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 121 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 102 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 87 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 86 9. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 82 10. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 79 11. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 79 12. Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 51 13. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51 14. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 47 15. Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 37 Manufacturer Standings 26/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 183 2. KTM 169 3. Yamaha 164 4. Aprilia 129 5. Beta 102 6. Husqvarna 90 7. HusaBerg 86 8. Suzuki 79 9. GasGas 53 10. Sherco 51 11. BMW 25 12. Kawasaki 15 13. TM 9 Click here to view the news

The sixth round of the MotoGP World Championship welcomes the Fiat Yamaha Team to their 'home' circuit of Mugello this weekend and the mouth-watering prospect of another classic race at the legendary venue. Already one of the most eagerly anticipated dates on the calendar, this year's visit to Tuscany has the extra spice of an Italian manufacturer leading the World Championship whilst the homecoming of Valentino Rossi to his adoring fans always guarantees an electric atmosphere and a performance to match from the mercurial 28-year-old. Rossi has satiated the partisan local crowd's appetite for entertainment and end-product for the past five seasons, putting together a run of victories previously unsurpassed by any one rider at their local track. 'The Doctor' has not been beaten on Italian soil since 2001, when he crashed out in a wet race, and his past three victories for Yamaha are unequalled in measures of brilliance and bravery. Mike Hailwood, who won the Isle of Man TT for five consecutive seasons in the 1960s, is the only rider in history to have held such a firm stronghold over his home Grand Prix. Colin Edwards' record at Mugello is somewhat less spectacular but the Texan has every reason to look forward to this weekend. After qualifying on the front row of the grid at four of the first five races Edwards has been denied a mammoth points haul merely through sheer bad luck - the latest chapter in a catalogue of misfortune coming in France, where the heavens opened as the grid formed on an otherwise dry circuit and denied him the chance to shoot for victory from pole position. A continuation of his excellent practice form and another top performance in qualifying should finally bear fruit this Sunday. The Mugello circuit is one of the fastest on the calendar, with the front straight almost certain to entice the new 800cc machines towards their highest top speed of the year. Measuring 1,141m, it is 61m shorter than the back straight of Shanghai, the longest in the championship, but the faster final turn and longer entry into the straight means the riders can get on the gas early, shift up through the gears and still have time to get the throttle wide open in sixth, potentially edging past the 337.5km/h set by Casey Stoner in China. Mugello differs from other fast circuits in its frequent changes of gradient and the speed of its chicanes. There is a mix of slower and high-speed corners, although even the slowest corners are wide, allowing several 'ideal' lines and putting the emphasis on rider skill as well as chassis set-up precision. Valentino Rossi - "Something incredible" As well as his five MotoGP victories at Mugello, Valentino Rossi also won the 125cc race there in 1997 and the 250cc race in 1999 - making him easily the most successful rider at the circuit across all classes of Grand Prix racing. It promises to be another special weekend for the Italian and he is optimistic that his chances won't be spoiled, as they were in France, by the rain. "We hoped that Le Mans would be a place where we might have been able to win back some points on Stoner, but unfortunately the weather played against us," says Rossi, who trails the Australian by 21 points in the current rider standings. "We stayed in France for two days of testing and we made a lot of progress, especially with the tyres. We also tried some new engine modifications, just small details, which we think will help us in Mugello. "As everyone knows I have a very special relationship with Mugello. I have won there many times, including the last three years with Yamaha, and I've had some of the greatest races of my life there. Even though I will have a second home race this year at Misano, Mugello is something incredible and the fans and atmosphere there are always unbelievable. It's a fantastic track but of course the straight is very long and we know we're going to have a very hard battle on our hands. At least we can rely on the weather... I hope!" Colin Edwards - "Crazy in a good way!" In stark contrast to the fortunes of Valentino Rossi at Mugello, for Colin Edwards it is one of his least successful circuits - with a best ever result of ninth place in both 2003 and 2005. However, Edwards' pace aboard the YZR-M1 at every kind of circuit so far this season gives him plenty of reason to think that he can end that barren run this Sunday. "Mugello hasn't been one of my best GP tracks and I've never had a really great race there, but we're aiming to turn that around this time," affirms Edwards. "Le Mans was a massive disappointment for everyone, especially after getting pole, but it was good to get back to work straight away and try to find out why it happened instead of sitting stewing over it for ten days. We know our bike is working brilliantly when we get everything right - qualifying is proving that at every race - but we really need to translate that to race conditions and to do this we need to make the most of every minute of practice. "Mugello is an incredible place and the Italian fans are completely crazy, in a good way! The countryside is beautiful and you can't help but be inspired by the atmosphere. This is really crunch time now - six races in eight weeks with the first being Valentino's home race and the last, in the US, being mine. Let's hope we can kick the run off to a good start with a double podium in Mugello, finish it off in the same way at Laguna and try to do the same thing at all the ones in between too!" Davide Brivio Team Director - "An interesting scenario" Fiat Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is eagerly anticipating a battle royale this weekend as his riders prepare to tackle Ducati at their home circuit. The Italian factory have won three of the first five races so far this season and are sure to make life difficult for Rossi and Edwards at Mugello. Brivio, however, is confident that the overall performance of the YZR-M1 will give his riders every chance of success. "Of course Mugello is a very important race for us - firstly because it is in Italy and secondly because it comes at a key part of the season, at the start of six races in eight weeks," says Brivio. "Valentino has a great record there and at Yamaha we have been able to win with him for the past three seasons but this year it will be very difficult. We're working hard to improve the package available to both our riders and we'll see if that pays off here. I think we will be competitive but in racing you never know. "For Colin the challenge is to convert his obvious potential in practice into a top result in the race. We know Mugello is not his favourite track but we've worked hard in recent weeks to give him a package he is happy with everywhere so hopefully that proves to be the case once free practice starts on Friday morning. It is an exciting weekend for the team and especially for Valentino because it is in Italy but it is also the home of Ducati and they will be very motivated, I'm sure. It's a very interesting scenario." Valentino Rossi : Information Age: 28 Lives: London, UK Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 GP victories: 85 (59 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 179 (119 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 48 World Championships: 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP) Colin Edwards: Information Age: 33 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1 First GP: Japón, 2003 (MotoGP) GP starts: 71 x MotoGP World Championships: 2 World Superbike Mugello: Lap Record M. Biaggi (Honda) 2005, 1'50.117 Mugello: Best Lap S. Gibernau (Ducati) 2006, 1'48.969 Grand Prix Results: Mugello 2006 1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 42'39.610 2. L. Capirossi (Ducati) +0.575 3. N. Hayden (Honda) +0.735 12. C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha +30.678 Click here to view the news

The sixth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship will take place next weekend at the Sugo circuit for the Grand Prix of Japan. For the third time this century and the third season in succession, Yamaha’s elite crew of MX1 and MX2 racers will head to the impressive and popular venue close to the city of Sendai. Importantly, the firm enter their home event holding the lead in the Rider’s and Manufacturer’s standings of both classes and will defend an unbeaten record at Sugo. Yamaha Motocross Team’s Josh Coppins currently enjoys a 43 point advantage in the MX1 classification. With one third of the fifteen race series already completed Coppins has forged a strong and notable start to his career as a Yamaha rider by guiding the Rinaldi-tuned works YZ450FM to three Grand Prix wins and seven moto triumphs from ten. He travels to Japan knowing that the Italian squad have tasted oriental victory in 2004 and 2005. “Of course I would love to win for Yamaha at their home GP and that is another goal of mine this season,” said the 30 year old title favourite, who’s lowest finish this year has been a sixth position. The New Zealander missed the 2006 edition of the race through injury but finished fourth in 2005 after taking part in a classic five rider scrap. “I like the track a lot,” he continued. “I have only been once but had a pretty good result there. I like how it is pretty rough, technical and jumpy. The terrain is also interesting. I am also fond of Japan, when you have to travel so far it helps that you like the actual country. I enjoy taking in the countryside and somehow I feel very safe when I am there. The people are so polite and very helpful.” Coppins, along with the Rinaldis and team-mate Marc de Reuver, will visit the Yamaha Motor Co (YMC) factory at Hamamatsu in the days leading up to the GP. “I am really looking forward to that,” he added. “As I get towards the later stages of my career I am starting to appreciate a lot more the history of our sport and places like Yamaha with their museum for motorsport. I am keen to see their old world championship bikes in both road racing and motocross. I have never actually been to a factory before so I am looking forward to meeting the bosses and the guys responsible for the bikes. It will be nice also to see how the work and the testing that I do filter through to the production machines.” The Sugo circuit has won rave reviews for not only its challenging layout but the care and attention directed to the soil that quickly becomes bumpy, rutted and technical. Marc de Reuver, who was third in the MX2 class there twelve months ago, is one of the many fans among the riding fraternity. “I always prefer tracks that are not rock hard and Sugo is nice to ride,” the charismatic Dutchman said. “It has big braking bumps, which is good for sand riders because we can play a little bit with the bike going into the corners. The layout is not too fast and the jumps are enjoyable.” The 24 year old has had a tough baptism to the MX1 class but top three moto results in Holland, Italy and Germany indicate there is more to come from De Reuver and a maiden overall podium is around the corner. “For sure MX1 is different from what I expected,” he revealed. “As an MX2 rider you look at them and you think, ‘they are not a lot faster and not as aggressive’ but now that Stefan Everts has gone it seems that everyone sees the big prize. That second moto in Valkenswaard, only my second race, was so crazy. Mantova also, people were attacking, passing and really going for it, which I had not seen before. It seems like I am still in MX2! From the first to the last lap they push. MX1 is hard, especially physically.” Team Manager Carlo Rinaldi is relishing the chance for his new rider line-up to show YMC staff first-hand the fruits of their efforts on the factory floor. “I enjoy going to Japan first of all because we like the nice and kind cooperation from Yamaha and secondly because we love the track,” he remarked. “We have always taken good results there. The dirt and the layout are excellent and we have seen some great races. I think Josh will have some pressure but he has proved to us so far that he manages under those kinds of conditions. I believe that racing in Japan will give him an extra boost.” “Visiting the factory will be something different for us and an added treat on our trip,” he added. “I honestly have never been to YMC so it will be interesting for me and the riders also.” Yamaha’s home dominance in the MX1 category is mirrored (in fact bettered) in MX2 where the YZ250F has taken the first two steps of the podium in both 2005 and 2006. The factory stand a very good chance of further spoils next week thanks to the fantastic form of Team De Carli’s Antonio Cairoli, who is unbeaten in the five Grand Prix held so far and has notched nine moto wins from ten. The Sicilian, who has finished runner-up for the past two seasons in Sugo, will also visit the facilities in Hamamatsu with team principal Claudio De Carli. “I love going to Japan and the whole experience, with the factory trip included, should be interesting also,” he said last week after winning the German Grand Prix at Teutschenthal. “I really like Sugo. I am definitely going there to win this time because I have finished second twice now.” “The beginning of the season has been perfect,” affirmed De Carli. “It has gone like a dream and everything has been good. We worked well in our testing during the winter and Tony is physically very good and confident. We now have to do our best to keep going in this direction although it won’t be easy all year.” The Italian boss was also full of praise for the 2007 YZ250F on which Cairoli has been torturing his rivals – most notably reigning champion Christophe Pourcel – this season and still has not finished lower than second place. “The bike we have, as well as the stock version, is a little bit different from last year and is better for the rider because it turns and handles better in the corners,” he said. “It certainly suits Tony’s style. We have made some work on the delivery of the power, so it is more usable for the rider. We made some suspension adjustments and overall we are really happy with the equipment we have.” The Grand Prix of Japan will be followed by trips to France and Bulgaria in the month of June as the 2007 campaign reaches the halfway point. Click here to view the news

Torrential rain in Le Mans today doused the hopes of the Fiat Yamaha Team as Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards struggled in the wet conditions and splashed home to sixth and twelfth respectively. An action-packed race, which saw seven riders crash out, was eventually won by Australian rider Chris Vermeulen, who took his first win in MotoGP. Black clouds gathered ominously over the MotoGP grid and a few spots of rain just before 2pm meant the race was declared wet. Despite this the riders chose to start the race on slick tyres, with the option of making a pit-stop to change bikes if the weather worsened. Edwards started from pole but was uncomfortable from the start and had dropped to the back of the field by the end of the first lap, before becoming the first to make a pit-stop and change bikes on lap four. Rossi meanwhile pounced from fourth on the grid and took the lead at turn two, holding it until he was passed by Yamaha rider Sylvain Guintoli and Randy de Puniet on lap six as the track became wetter. Rossi was one of the last five riders to come in and change after ten laps and things looked promising at first as he fought back to third but, having opted for a harder-compound wet tyre, he was unable to keep up the momentum as the rain grew heavier and slipped back through the field. Sixth place nonetheless gained him ten important championship points and he holds on to second in the standings. Unfortunately things did not improve for his team-mate; Edwards persevered to the flag but continued to struggle throughout the race. Valentino Rossi - position 6th; "Of course I'm very upset about this result because I had a very good feeling in the dry at the start. We made some good modifications to the bike, it was working very well and I thought I was going to be able to fight for the victory. Unfortunately the weather ruined it for us today! We made the pit stop and started the second part of race with hard rain tyres, because we thought it was only going to be light rain. Sadly we were wrong and when the rain got heavier my tyre was too hard for the conditions and I couldn't push. I was very slow from then on and didn't have any grip from the rear. In the last five laps it was quite dangerous as it was very hard to stay upright and I think I lost five or six seconds per lap at the end. We had hoped that this would be a track at which we could gain some ground on Stoner and it's going to be a very hard battle from here because he is very fast, not just on the straights but everywhere! I want to congratulate Chris Vermeulen today because he rode a great race, I think he's a bit of a magician in the rain!" Colin Edwards - position 12th; We encountered some problems that I've run into before - in Australia last year when I crashed in the rain and at the Jerez test this year. It's hard to explain, but to me it feels like it's related to the engine braking - when we've got less traction from the tyres in the wet it just seems to appear. I think even yesterday's crash was down to something similar. Basically I try to put it into the corner but the rear comes round on me and it slides. Valentino and I have quite different styles - he holds the clutch in there a lot longer whilst I just kind of dump it and today it was a big problem for me. To be honest that wasn't really rain racing for me, it was more like ice racing and it was impossible. At the start it was at its worst because being on a slick tyre with a damp track just exacerbated the problem. I came in early because in the circumstances I thought I'd gamble and hope it was going to chuck it down with rain, but a few laps out there on rain tyres when it wasn't that wet wasn't fun either. I came back in again, thinking maybe the tyre was too hard, and we tried a softer rain tyre and that was better in the end. I'm really sorry to the team and to everyone involved; I don't like wasting my first pole and I had hoped for great things today." Davide Brivio - Team Director; "Today's race was run in very difficult conditions, which is a pity when we had high hopes for both riders. Valentino was running well but when it started to rain we chose a tyre for light rains and then, unfortunately, the rain came down very heavily and very hard and it just wasn't the right tyre for those conditions. This is why after he changed bikes he was very good but as the rain got heavier he started to go backwards. He did well to finish the race in this situation and get some points. For Colin, we don't really know what to say but the conditions of today and the lower temperatures made it difficult for him and it was a day to forget after his great pole position. I think in the dry he could have had a good race but this sadly wasn't to be. He was uncomfortable with the bike and from the start he wasn't going well. All we can do now is move on from Le Mans, put it behind us and look forward to Mugello." In front of the home crowd of the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team, the Grand Prix of France was a truly momentous affair as Makoto Tamada and Sylvain Guintoli both scored top ten results as they finished ninth and tenth respectively raising the bar in what was another stellar performance for the team. Both Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 riders rose to the wet weather circumstances with Sylvain creating his own piece of personal history as he overtook seven times world champion Valentino Rossi to lead a MotoGP for the first time. Unfortunately he was caught out by the worsening conditions as he tried to extend his lead causing him to crash but quickly remounted. Makoto was able to stay out a few more laps on slicks before his enforced pit-stop. He rode a steady and sensible race in the atrocious conditions that saw many other riders crashing out also attain his best result of the season so far. The scene had been set for a magnificent weekend during qualifying when Sylvain was on top of the time sheets with 10 minutes to go, finally missing the top spot by just 0.8 of a second. This weekend has given the team a tremendous boost with the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time but in the meantime will remain at Le Mans for two days of testing to further improve performance of the Dunlop tyres and Yamaha machines. Makoto Tamada - position 9th; That was a very different race. I am happy to finish but I am not overly happy because I had the potential to go faster but I have no complaint with anything as we raced in such severe conditions. We also learnt many things in this race as when it was just a little bit wet I lost too much time and it was hard to decide at what time was best to come in. When it became very wet the lap times became a lot better and I felt very comfortable and in those conditions we had a lot of grip with the Dunlop tyres. Now we are here to test for a couple of days so it is important for us to work a lot on the bad points we have when the track is not dry but not all wet. This is a good result for the team and I know now that we are making many improvements that will help us for the rest of the year. Sylvain Guintoli - position 10th: That was a pretty funny race but I am extremely happy with the entire weekend. This is something special for me to do what I did in front of my home crowd with my good qualifying and the race. I got a very bad start as I wheelied off the line. I felt very confident passing everybody as I was trying to find a rhythm and the next thing I know I am in front with no one to chase. When I was in front for that one lap I didn't think about it, I just went for it. I was very surprised when the rear came around and made me crash as it didn't seem that wet. If I hadn't crashed I would have stayed out for a few more laps as it was not really wet enough to change bike. 10th is my best result so I have to be very happy even with a crash but the entire weekend has been brilliant. We can take a lot out of this weekend as we got rid of any doubts about how competitive we can be. I am now very confident with the bike and my riding and I am looking forward to Mugello to continue my progress. Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager This has been a very weird French Grand Prix. We had a really good qualifying session and a strong warm-up this morning. It was an incredible start to the race. Sylvain was exceptional as he said to me before the start that it would be good to lead for just one lap and he did it! It didn't look too good for him at the start as he was 13th at the first split but he fought his way through. When I saw the rain coming harder I thought it wasn't looking too good but we were ready for a crash and he was prepared to take the chance. Everyone around the track enjoyed seeing Sylvain in front and after he crashed he showed very good fighting spirit to pick the bike up and continue. I would also like to thank Makoto as he showed great fighting spirit too to finish in 9th place and to have our two riders in the top ten is a sensational result. This weekend has been a huge step forward for the team and I think now we can be fighting for top ten finishes at every race. We have two days to test more things here at Le Mans and feel that we can make some more steps before the next race in Italy. Circuit Length: 4180 Temp: 13 Weather: Wet 2007 MotoGP France - Le Mans 20/05/2007 Race 1 - 28 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 50'58.752 2 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'12.599 3 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 0'27.347 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'37.328 5 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'49.166 6 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'53.563 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'1.073 8 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'21.241 9 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN -1 Laps 10 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA -1 Laps 11 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP -1 Laps 12 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA -3 Laps Rider Standings 20/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 102 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 81 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 62 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 61 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 55 6. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 48 7. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 38 8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 35 9. Toni Elias Honda ESP 35 10. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 30 11. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 30 12. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 27 13. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 14. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 19 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 15 16. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 12 17. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 11 Team Standings 20/05/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 140 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 116 3. Rizla Suzuki 103 4. Honda Gresini 96 5. Repsol Honda Team 92 6. Pramac D'Antin 57 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 28 8. Tech3 Yamaha 23 9. Honda LCR 20 10. Konica Minolta Honda 15 11. Team Roberts 4 Manufacturer Standings 20/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 102 2. Honda 89 3. Yamaha 81 4. Suzuki 71 Click here to view the news

Today the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team finished a two-day test hot on the heels of last weekend’s races at Monza. Following on from Haga’s double win at Monza the team went straight to the Misano circuit on the Adriatic coast of Italy where they participated in a private test alongside key riders from Ducati, Kawasaki and DFX Honda. The focus of the two-day session was for the team to test various new parts and for the riders to learn the new Misano circuit. From 2007 races at Misano will now go the other way round the track in a bid to increase safety as well as the racing excitement. This effectively means a whole new track for the riders to learn. Corser had a successful two days taking the second fastest unofficial time both days just behind Bayliss. Having lapped a 1’36.6 on day one he went on to take a second off his time the next day to do a 1’35.6. Following on from his double win last weekend, Haga was fifth fastest on day one and went over a second quicker on day two as he learnt the track and made progress with setting up the new parts. The team is now confident of fully utilizing the new parts to get the best out of the all-new 2007 R1 at the seventh round of the championship at Silverstone in just over a week’s time. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “The test has proved very valuable. We got the chance to test all the new parts we wanted including engine, chassis and suspension items as well as trying different tyres. I feel that the past two days have helped us start to resolve the problems I encountered at Monza. We have focused on doing race distances and we have done a lot of laps. It has been tiring but I am fairly happy with my lap times considering this. The test was also very good for learning the new Misano circuit and where the bumps are, which is everywhere! I have also got a good idea of what race setting to use for the Misano race which isn’t far away.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I am very tired as we have come straight from Monza to Misano but even so the test has been good. The circuit now goes the other way and we have not ridden it like this before so it was good to learn where all the bumps are. We tested various new engine parts which were good although we could do with more time to really get the best out of them. So far, so good though.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “The test has gone well – both riders have done many laps and the team has worked hard even though everyone is tired after Monza. We managed to test all the parts including a variable intake system which is also used on the production R1. The test has given us some invaluable time to get the system set up right for each rider. We also tested different mapping settings and Troy focused on engine braking as this was a problem for him at Monza. I am happy with the results and we have got some good data and information which is bound to help us at Silverstone.” Fastest times (both days combined): Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1’35”3 Troy Corser (Yamaha) 1’35”6 Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 1’35”9 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) 1’36”6 Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 1’36”8 Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki) 1’36”9 Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) 1’37”1 Michel Fabrizio (Honda) 1’38”2 Marco Borciani (Ducati) 1’39”0 Mauro Sanchini (Kawasaki) 1’39”0 Click here to view the news

Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins continued his 100% podium record with third place overall in the German GP held at the 'Talkessel' circuit of Teutschenthal. His teammate Marc de Reuver enjoyed his best moto result to date in a MX1 GP race, finishing second to Coppins in the first heat. A crash in the second moto unfortunately destroyed Marc's chance for his first GP victory. Coppins gained his first pole position on the YZ450FM during an initially wet Timed Practice on Saturday. High winds on Friday meant that the practice schedule had to be cut in order to complete the set-up of the circuit, Nevertheless the Yamaha Motocross Team had a decent day of preparation enjoying a pleasing one-two for both of their riders as Marc de Reuver flew to a lap-time just four thousandths of a second slower than Coppins. Despite the adverse conditions at the start of the weekend (Saturday was windy, cloudy and with occasional showers) Sunday dawned sunny and slightly breezy. With its climbs, drops, banked curves and undulations Talkessel still has a flowing layout even though a new sandy loop had been installed. The hard terrain had also been mixed with sand in many places with a view to generating more lines which was partially successful. The speed remained fairly high and the course was not the most technically difficult of the calendar; therefore the gaps between riders remained constant and tricky to cut down. The first MX1 moto saw an excellent start for the Italian crew as Coppins pulled away from de Reuver and the pair kept a comfortable distance over Steve Ramon. A repeat result looked as though it might happen later in the afternoon but the three second lead diligently created by Coppins vanished when the 30 year old hit neutral and crashed in the sand. He remounted in eighth and then joined in a thrilling five rider fight for the lead. In theory it should have been de Reuver's race and Grand Prix. Riding at the venue where he won his first Grand Prix in 2003 the Dutchman looked comfortable when he inherited Coppins' position but then slipped off his 450 in a surprising crash. Devastated by his mistake he then could do no better than eighth place, which gave him fourth overall; still his best finish so far this year. Coppins meanwhile had re-launched an offensive and climbed into the top four but he then clipped his right foot on a bank after exiting a corner a little too fast and twisted his ankle, nullifying his speed somewhat. He confirmed sixth to seal the third step of the podium. Coppins' lead in the standings has increased by seven points over Kevin Strijbos, who could only take fifth, and now reaches 43 for almost a full Grand Prix advantage. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I was riding well in the second moto and passed Brown for the lead. I pulled a nice little advantage over the others and was happy with that but I hit a neutral going through the sand and crashed. I restarted around sixth or seventh and was riding quite good again, passing a few guys, although I then hit the bank with my foot with five or six laps to go and took it a bit easy after that. The first moto win was good because this track is so fast and the racing is so close that a couple of seconds lead is a lot here compared to other circuits. I was comfortable and able to control the race. The second moto was frustrating. I made a mistake that I am disappointed about because I was in a good position. It was a so so day but on the bright side I was able to extend my lead in the championship." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "Even in my junior motocross races did I not give away a race like that! I went into the corner and my right hand slipped off the grip. I don't know why because I always took the same rut. The bike was still running and I picked it up straightaway. I lost only two places and thought that the moto was still there for me but then Ramon pushed me over the berm and just into the fence and everyone in that group went through. I have nothing more to say except that I am sick of this. I should have won it easily, with 'two fingers in my nose' even. I was riding so smoothly and it was just a stupid thing." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It could easily have been a one-two for the team. The first moto was easy for them both and it looked as though the second race was going to be the same, even when Josh crashed because Marc had the lead and Josh could have made second overall. It turned around very quickly though because Marc made the mistake and Josh twisted his ankle. Marc was so angry and disappointed. He lost a lot of time and speed. The second half of the second moto was hard for us!" Circuit Length: 1780 Temp: 20 Crowd: 32000 Weather: Showers 2007 GP of Teutschenthal, Germany 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 41'33.823 2 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'6.946 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'11.243 4 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'13.949 5 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'14.865 6 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'17.440 7 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 0'26.508 8 James Noble Honda GBR 0'29.096 9 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'34.254 10 Manuel Priem TM BEL 0'45.676 11 Bradley Anderson Yamaha GBR 0'46.596 12 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'49.656 13 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'51.164 14 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'53.206 15 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'1.365 16 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 1'5.529 17 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 1'7.947 18 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'9.753 19 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'13.081 20 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'31.115 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 39'49.343 2 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'2.008 3 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'3.729 4 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'4.221 5 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 0'7.718 6 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 0'11.974 7 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'24.821 8 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'29.354 9 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'31.323 10 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 0'34.459 11 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'36.376 12 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 0'40.458 13 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 0'50.129 14 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'53.742 15 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'55.388 16 Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 0'56.356 17 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 0'57.910 18 Julien Vanni Honda FRA 0'58.589 19 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 1'1.208 20 Bradley Anderson Yamaha GBR 1'5.050 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 234 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 191 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 156 4. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 131 5. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 130 6. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 121 7. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 115 8. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 115 9. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 112 10. James Noble Honda GBR 104 11. Mike Brown Honda USA 100 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 81 13. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 80 14. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 73 15. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 66 16. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 62 17. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 57 18. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 49 19. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 43 20. Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 38 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 234 2. Suzuki 205 3. KTM 181 4. Honda 163 5. Kawasaki 157 6. TM 81 7. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 13/05/2007 Cairoli unstoppable in Teutschenthal The phenomenon that is Antonio Cairoli's form in the MX2 Motocross World Championship showed no signs of fading today as the flamboyant Sicilian won the Grand Prix of Germany for the fifth round of fifteen in the series. It was the Yamaha De Carli representative's fifth consecutive success (sixth stretching back to 2006) and his fourth double moto triumph of the year. Antonio Cairoli has now won nine MX2 motos from the ten contested this season. His worst result is still the second position he took in the first race of the Spanish Grand Prix. Enjoying ruthless speed on the YZ250F and combined with an excellent physical condition, not to mention a large dose of confidence, the 21 year old is currently unstoppable. The 2005 World Champ and 2006 runner-up gained his third consecutive pole position as the MX2 qualification heats were scraped with the change of timetable and replaced by an MX1 Timed Practice chrono. "Tony" hole-shotted both motos and lead from the first corners until the last. The first race was processional and only lively in the final three laps when defending number one Christophe Pourcel closed down the gap to the red-plated '222' machine to set up an exciting climax. Cairoli however showed the extent of his control to register his fastest lap of the race in the final minutes to ensure his chequered flag. The second moto presented a clearer run on a rougher track. Cairoli stretched his lead over Pourcel and Tyla Rattray in the first half of the 18 laps and had the trophy in his pocket from that stage. Cairoli, who waved to the crowd on the last circulations, dedicated his win to 'all the mothers' in recognition of mothering Sunday in Germany. The Italian's good mood was further buoyed by enlarging his lead in the MX2 championship by six points over Pourcel. His advantage now stands at a hefty 66, almost three full motos. Yamaha Ricci Racing's Davide Guarneri came back to form in only his second Grand Prix of the year. The friendly Italian won his first (and only so far) moto at Teutschenthal in 2005. He made two decent jumps from the gate and finished fifth in both races for the same classification in the final table. Team-mate Kenneth Gundersen took the next highest moto placing behind Cairoli with third position in the first race. The Norwegian did not make any mistakes despite pressure from Tyla Rattray. He suffered a bad start in the second moto however and could only work his way back to fourteenth. Gundersen, who has bittersweet memories of Teutschenthal (he won the 250cc GP here in 2002 but then also crashed hard and sustained the painful knee injury that kept him out of the series for well over a year in 2004) was seventh overall and one place behind Nicolas Aubin who did not get away from the gate well in either sprint and couldn't find a good rhythm in Motoone but collected ninth and sixth after two hard rides. His tussle with Tommy Searle was particularly entertaining from which he managed to emerge victorious. Yamaha's motocross crew next race will be the home Grand Prix for Yamaha held at the popular Sugo circuit in two weeks time. Yamaha are undefeated on their Japanese territory with MX1 and MX2 victory in the previous two years. The third incarnation of the Grand Prix of Japan represents round six of the World Championship and the only non-European meeting this season. A special preview, with comments from Yamaha's main protagonists, will be issued next week. Antonio Cairoli, Yamaha De Carli: "I am happy to give this win to all the mothers as it is mother's day and I love mine very much! This was an important victory as I have never finished on the podium here and for the championship it was very positive. The track was a bit more difficult than before, rougher even, and I prefer this because when it is too easy everybody goes so fast. In the first moto I had the holeshot and went hard on the first lap to make a gap over Gundersen. I could see that Christophe was coming fast but I was able to control the race. He came close at the end but I made two strong laps at the end and he couldn't pass me. The second moto was a little easier. The track was more technical. I took a lead of six or seven seconds over Christophe and it was not as stressful. On the last lap I said 'Ciao' to the crowd." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Even with a bit of arm-pump in the first race I could keep third and that was a good result but in the second I made a bad start and couldn't get my rhythm. I was struggling against the bike and the track and couldn't get any speed. To be honest I was riding really badly and that was disappointing because a good overall finish was wasted." Davide Guarneri, Yamaha Team Ricci: "I love this track and I felt quite good today. I had a problem on the left turns because my ankle is still a bit weak but I had two good starts and my speed was also good. Two fifth positions is a great result because this is only my second race of the year and I hope in the next few GPs I can do even better." Circuit Length: 1780 Temp: 20 Crowd: 32000 Weather: Showers 2007 GP of Teutschenthal, Germany 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'32.155 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'2.695 3 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'46.329 4 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'47.786 5 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 0'52.944 6 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'3.364 7 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'15.902 8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'19.038 9 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'19.801 10 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'34.835 11 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'36.225 12 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 1'38.275 13 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'40.741 14 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'41.345 15 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'42.596 16 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'43.701 17 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'50.893 18 Jason Dougan Suzuki GBR 1'53.369 19 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'54.673 20 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 2'4.369 Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 39'29.074 2 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'2.511 3 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'43.072 4 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'50.695 5 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'0.381 6 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 1'6.520 7 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 1'10.604 8 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'11.903 9 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'14.497 10 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'15.371 11 Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 1'16.450 12 Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 1'22.141 13 Jeremy Van Horebeek KTM BEL 1'25.861 14 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 1'28.738 15 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 1'30.724 16 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'42.208 17 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'45.505 18 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 1'46.453 19 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'47.569 20 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 2'2.330 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 247 2. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 181 3. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 180 4. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 143 5. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 137 6. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 121 7. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 118 8. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 113 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 104 10. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 85 11. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 67 12. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 13. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 55 14. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 15. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 53 16. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 53 17. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 47 18. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 46 19. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 42 20. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 42 23. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 40 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 247 2. Kawasaki 209 3. KTM 199 4. Honda 148 5. Suzuki 88 Click here to view the news

A moment Haga had been working towards came today when he took race wins in both races at the home round of the Yamaha Motor Italia Team. Haga went down to sixth at the start of race one behind Corser but quickly started to work his way up through the grid setting the fastest lap three times . By lap five Haga was battling with Toseland for the lead while Corser fought with Biaggi for sixth place. Haga won the fight for first and went on to complete a textbook race and take his first win at Monza in front of a record breaking 108,000 strong crowd. Corser had less fortune than Haga in race one, running wide at Lesmo on two consecutive laps and struggling to make up any time on fifth place until errors by Bayliss and Biaggi on lap 14 significantly reduced the gap. The retirement of Rolfo right at the end of the race gave Corser a fifth place finish. Haga got another bad start in race two but once again made his way up to second place by lap three. On lap seven Haga made his move to pass Toseland who he had been tailing and then set about putting some space between him and the rest of the field. From there on it was just up to Haga to bring the bike home safely to take his second win of the day. This completed a good weekend for the rider with him taking Superpole, both race wins and setting the fastest lap of the race in race one on the 2007 R1. Corser got a good start and moved up from fifth to fourth and then fought hard in a battle between Biaggi and Rolfo for four laps with the riders swapping positions frequently. As the race progressed Corser struggled to keep pace with the pack and had to settle for sixth and ten points. Today's excellent results puts Haga back in fierce contention for the championship as he now stands in second place and only 35 points behind lead man Toseland. Corser is in fifth having taken 21 points away from this weekend. Yamaha also lies second in the manufacturer standings with first place within reach. Noriyuki Haga (1st and 1st - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Today was perfect - the perfect end to a perfect weekend. I have taken Superpole, won both races and got the fastest lap in the second race. This weekend the bike was feeling good and we didn't make any big changes to the set-up which is unusual for me. We focused on the engine because this is such a fast track and the results speak for themselves. I would like to say thank you to the Team, Yamaha, Santander and all the other sponsors and people who have worked hard to make this possible. Taking the double win at the team's home round feels good and it is made all the sweeter as I have never won here before." Troy Corser (5th and 6th - Yamaha Motor Italia) "This weekend has been very difficult; it has not gone to plan at all. Somehow I don't seem to be able to get the same top speed that Haga can achieve even though the bikes are the same. I had a couple of scary moments coming out of Lesmo when the back of the bike would let go and start coming round. I had it on Friday and then we seemed to solve the problem but I had it again in both races today. We have two days testing at Misano in the coming week so I really hope we can find out what's causing this and solve it before Silverstone." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "This has been a fantastic day - a double win at our home round where we have had over 800 guests today. Haga is now second in the championship and Yamaha are second in the manufacturer championship also. Haga rode very well, made no mistakes and really pushed hard. We had lots of fans here today because it is our home round and we are based very close to here. The atmosphere was exciting and I am sure we gave the fans some good racing. I am really sorry for Troy - the positions he finished in today are not a true reflection of his capability and the effort he is putting in. We have a two-day test at Misano next week and we are going to work really hard to sort out the problem. I would like to thank everyone involved in the team for all their hard work - today has been a good reward for us all." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 26 Crowd: 108,000 Weather: Dry 2007 WSB Monza 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 32'4.428 2 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'8.403 3 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'9.703 4 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'13.587 5 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'14.898 6 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'14.954 7 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'19.517 8 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'24.120 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'24.682 10 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'29.197 11 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 0'32.654 12 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'34.054 13 Marco Borciani Ducati ITA 0'37.386 14 Alessandro Polita Suzuki ITA 0'37.704 15 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'41.377 Race 2 - 18 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 32'5.318 2 James Toseland Honda GBR 0'2.691 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 0'2.841 4 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 0'3.188 5 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 0'3.551 6 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 0'13.034 7 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 0'17.246 8 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 0'18.410 9 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 0'29.017 10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 0'29.686 11 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 0'30.371 12 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 0'31.982 13 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 0'32.165 14 Robertino Pietri Yamaha VEN 1'32.292 15 Dean Ellison Ducati GBR 1'41.840 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'46.172 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. James Toseland Honda GBR 229 2. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 194 3. Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 191 4. Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 164 5. Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 135 6. Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 107 7. Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 106 8. Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 81 9. Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 77 10. Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 60 11. Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 60 12. Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 51 13. Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 46 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 44 15. Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 40 17. Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 19 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 238 2. Yamaha 217 3. Ducati 209 4. Suzuki 191 5. Kawasaki 77 RACE REPORT 13/05/2007 West takes third for Yamaha in World Supersport This weekend's newcomer, Anthony West, to the Yamaha World Supersport Team rode a gutsy race today to come third in the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship. Until this weekend Anthony West had not ridden a four-stroke bike since 2004 or ever ridden the Monza circuit before. Broc Parkes was running in second and looking confident when a technical fault ended his race early. West got off to a bad start and moved down from 14th to 18th as he got entangled in a first chicane scrum. But undeterred he put his head down and had moved up to sixth by lap six. He then found himself in a three-way battle with Veneman and Fujiwara but had passed both riders within two laps to then focus on Charpentier. Within one lap he had made up the 1.2 seconds on Charpentier and out-braked him going into the chicane. By this point in the race the young Australian was putting his fastest laps of the race, consistently hitting the 1'50s. With only three laps to go West then challenged Foret and Nannelli for second place with the riders swapping places every lap until on the last lap when West made a late challenge for second at the chicane only to be retaken aggressively by Foret at the Parabolica. Having had such a successful start to the weekend and after qualifying fourth Parkes had an unlucky end today. In the race he got off to a good start and took the lead at the first corner. He lost the lead to Sofuoglu on lap three but was sitting confidently behind him waiting for the right opportunity to overtake when a technical fault caused his bike to stop, ending his race. Roccoli had a disappointing race after qualifying in eighth yesterday. He started well enough but then made a mistake and lost several places. He finished in 11th taking five points away. Anthony West (3rd - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "That was a tough race - I had to fight very hard out there but it was good. I was happy when I got to eighth place and started to relax into the race. I then realized I could catch the front runners so focused on them. When I caught up with Foret and Nannelli I could feel my tyres were wearing off so let them fight it out in front of me with a view to making a late challenge. The bike feels really good now I've had a weekend to get to know it, it is fast too. I couldn't have done so well without such a good bike, it gave me lots of confidence. And the team is one of the most professional teams I have worked with - I would like to thank them for their efforts this weekend." Broc Parkes (DNF - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I can't believe the bad we had today. I had a really good bike and got a good start making sure I didn't go too crazy on the first lap. Sofuoglu came past me but I could see he wasn't consistent so I tagged onto him and was starting to get into a flow when the bike just stopped. The team and I have worked so hard to get the bike set up and this was shaping up to be the perfect opportunity for my first race win of the season. Now we just have to put this behind us and look forward to the next race which is at Silverstone. I normally go well there and have got second there before." Massimo Roccoli (11th - Yamaha Team Italia) "I made a braking mistake at one point and I lost six places. Normally I prefer to have no one in front of me to be fast, but that cannot always be. The damage wasn't too bad but my expectation for today was higher than my results. I am not happy with today's race." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 23 Crowd: 108,000 Weather: Dry 2007 WSS Monza 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 16 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 29'44.471 2 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 0'3.992 3 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 0'4.043 4 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 0'4.598 5 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 0'8.348 6 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 0'10.323 7 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 0'22.621 8 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 0'25.613 9 David Salom Yamaha ESP 0'25.668 10 Simone Sanna Honda ITA 0'25.702 11 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 0'25.857 12 Miguel Praia Honda POR 0'26.562 13 Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 0'26.618 14 David Checa Yamaha ESP 0'31.074 15 Joan Lascorz Honda ESP 0'33.737 17 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 0'43.971 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'50.550 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 145 2. Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 87 3. Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 53 4. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 43 5. Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 41 6. Andrew Pitt Honda AUS 40 7. Robbin Harms Honda DNK 39 8. David Salom Yamaha ESP 34 9. Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 33 10. Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 27 11. Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 26 12. Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 26 13. Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 25 14. Craig Jones Honda GBR 25 15. Vesa Kallio Suzuki FIN 24 19. David Checa Yamaha ESP 20 23. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 9 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 145 2. Kawasaki 97 3. Yamaha 82 4. Suzuki 48 5. Ducati 43 RACE REPORT 13/05/2007 Baiocco takes Monza Superstock win for Yamaha Today's FIM Superstock 1000 Cup race was always going to be exciting following on from the drama at the last round in Assen but no one could have predicted the result as Matteo Baiocco took the win at his home round while Yamaha Team Italia team mates Corti and Pirro both crashed out. Pirro, Corti, Van Keymeulen and Baiocco had been running in the top five throughout the weekend in qualifying with Pirro taking his second pole position of the season and Corti taking second. Baiocco qualified in fourth with Didier Van Keymeulen rounding up the Yamaha domination in fifth. All four Yamaha-shod riders got good starts in the race with Corti taking the lead early on from Pirro. In the first three laps Corti, Pirro and Van Keymeulen all fought hard for the lead, with each taking the top slot at some stage. On lap four Corti high-sided whilst in the lead ending his race and just missing Van Keymeulen in the process, who had to take to the grass. Pirro took this chance to grab the lead and proceeded to build a good gap between him and Van Keymeulen. Meanwhile Baiocco, riding for the Umbria Bike Team, was in his own battle for third with Dionisi until he managed to break away on lap eight to pass Van Keymeulen for second place. Van Keymeulen found himself heading back to fifth as his tyres started to wear off which allowed Dionisi and Aitchison through. Pirro was all set to take the win when he crashed on the penultimate lap. Baiocco took up the lead position on his 2007 R1 and held off the other riders to take his first race win in the Superstock championship. Today's result means that Baiocco now leads the championship with 60 points. Pirro and Corti both still have 45 points but have moved down to fifth and sixth respectively but Van Keymeulen has now joined them on 45 points in seventh position. In the manufacturer standings Yamaha lead with 90 points. With only four rounds gone the 2007 Superstock Championship is certainly close and the next round is in two weeks at Silverstone, UK. Matteo Baiocco (1st - Umbria Bike) "This is a dream come true to win on this track in front of this crowd. I had a perfect last lap - I overtook Aitchison at the chicane and then Dionisi at the Ascari corner. I must thank the team because my R1 was perfect." Michele Pirro (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I don't know why I crashed, I am so disappointed. It was an important occasion for me to take a step forward in the championship standings. But I don't want to cry now because the season is so long and I must focus on going forward." Claudio Corti (DNF - Yamaha Team Italia) "I have some pain in my hand and back but nothing serious. I let a very good result go but I am already thinking forward to the next race. Congratulations to Baiocco, his victory is certainly a good prize for him." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 22 Crowd: 108,000 Weather: Dry 2007 Superstock Monza 13/05/2007 Race 1 - 11 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 20'19.109 2 Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 0'0.004 3 Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 0'0.136 4 Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 0'0.510 5 Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 0'5.949 6 Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 0'7.712 7 Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 0'8.132 8 Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 0'14.693 9 Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 0'14.743 10 Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 0'15.193 11 Daniel Sutter Yamaha CHE 0'20.413 12 Arne Tode Honda GER 0'20.731 13 Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 0'21.135 14 Marko Rohtlaan Honda EST 0'21.565 15 Brendan Roberts Ducati AUS 0'21.794 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 1'49.575 Rider Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Matteo Baiocco Yamaha ITA 60 2. Mark Aitchison Suzuki AUS 58 3. Nicolo Canepa Ducati ITA 57 4. Ilario Dionisi Suzuki ITA 50 5. Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha BEL 45 6. Michele Pirro Yamaha ITA 45 7. Claudio Corti Yamaha ITA 45 8. Xavier Simeon Suzuki BEL 38 9. Rene Mahr Yamaha GER 26 10. Marko Jerman Suzuki SVK 21 11. Sheridan Morais Ducati RSA 19 12. Matej Smrz Honda CZE 15 13. Cederic Tangre Yamaha FRA 14 14. Arne Tode Honda GER 13 15. Danilo Dell'omo MV Agusta ITA 13 Manufacturer Standings 13/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 90 2. Suzuki 71 3. Ducati 60 4. Honda 27 5. MV Agusta 17 6. Kawasaki 4 Click here to view the news

Noriyuki Haga showed what is to come in today's practice and qualifying sessions ending in second place. He set the pace in this morning's free practice finishing it in the top slot and having led it for most of the session as well as setting the session's fastest lap five times. It didn't stop there though and in the first qualifying session of the weekend he held the top slot until Toseland knocked him down to second towards the end. Corser did not have as much luck as his team mate today, suffering a couple of problems throughout the day. The morning practice session went smoothly with the seasoned Australian getting down to the job of finding the right set-up. It was in the afternoon session that problems struck the #11 rider but he continued to ride through them to gather data for the team, riding almost race distance. He also posted his fastest time of the day and finished the session in 12th. Shinichi Nakatomi riding for the Team Yamaha YZF squad also had technical issues to resolve during today's two riding sessions. The Japanese rider, who will start his 33rd race this weekend, stopped at one point on the track but rejoined the session later on to secure 19th place. Toseland heads the board going into tomorrow's final qualifying session with Haga close behind and Karl Muggeridge in third. Noriyuki Haga (2nd - 1'46.316 - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Second is good although I am not too concerned with where I am on the grid at the moment. Tomorrow is the most important with the second qualifying and Superpole. I have learnt from Assen that I need to be on the front row going in to Superpole in case of having any problems! The bike is feeling good and I have already made a long run on a tyre today which I am happy with." Troy Corser (12th - 1'47.321 - Yamaha Motor Italia) "I am not happy as you can probably understand. We didn't get enough track time and we have some braking problems with the bike that need to be solved before tomorrow. It's going to be a long night with the team checking all the data to identify and resolve the problem. All I know is that I have to go faster tomorrow and I know we can do better than twelfth." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia) "We tried to prepare for this race as best as possible. Noriyuki had a good practice and he is quite confident in his and the bike's potential this weekend. With regard to Troy, we discovered a couple of problems today which we are resolving now. We believe he is be able achieve the same good result as he did last year. We have a lot of guests here at our home round and we are hopeful of providing them with a good result." Shinichi Nakatomi (19th - 1'48.384 - Team Yamaha YZF) "I didn't expect to be right on the pace today but I didn't expect to have technical problems either. But despite technical issues I feel we have made some slow progress today. We have already identified the issues and are working to resolve them in time for tomorrow's second qualifying session. I am positive for tomorrow." Circuit Length: 5792 Weather: Dry 2007 WSB Monza 11/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'45.953 2 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'46.316 3 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'46.462 4 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'46.548 5 Joshua Brookes Honda AUS 1'46.686 6 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'46.775 7 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'46.918 8 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'46.960 9 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'46.972 10 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'47.125 11 Max Biaggi Suzuki ITA 1'47.205 12 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1'47.321 13 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'47.351 14 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'47.384 15 Marco Borciani Ducati ITA 1'47.828 19 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'48.384 QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 11/05/2007 Steady Start for Yamaha World Supersport Team The Yamaha World Supersport Team played it cool and calm today with the focus on bedding in a new rider and finding the right race setting. They might have been playing it calm but the team still walked away with fifth and eighth qualifying places, Parkes and West respectively. Parkes had a good morning going fourth fastest in today's free practice. He then spent the afternoon qualifying session finding the right set-up for this weekend and was in the top five for the whole 45 minute session. He ended the day in a comfortable fifth. Newcomer to the bike, the team and the championship this weekend is Anthony West. Anthony replaces Kevin Curtain here at Monza while Kevin continues his recuperation back home in Australia. Curtain had been hoping to return to the saddle at this round but has been set back due to an infection in his leg wound. West is currently riding in the 250 GP Championship. West had his first ride of the 2007 YZF-R6 today and also his first ride of the Monza circuit so the team was expecting it to take a little bit of time for him to get on the pace. But with seconds to go in this morning's free practice the young Australian leapt into sixth place. He proceeded to make good progress in the afternoon qualifying session claiming eighth qualifying place. In the process of finding the limit West suffered a low-side crash just before the end of the qualifying session at the infamous Parabolica corner but didn't suffer any injuries and is fired up for tomorrow. Massimo Roccoli riding for the Yamaha Team Italia squad was not able to show his full riding potential today as he struggled with front end problems during practice and qualifying. He finished in 13th today. Broc Parkes (5th - 1'51.557 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I missed out on using my last rear tyre because I came in too late at the end of the session, but it's not the end of the world. Today was more about finding a good set-up for the whole bike not just about setting a good time. That will come tomorrow. The bike felt good today and I am positive of getting up there in the second qualifying session tomorrow." Anthony West (5th - 1'51.867 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Having been riding a 250 two-stroke the bike felt really strange for the first few laps and I thought it was going to take longer to get used to it than it has. The R6 feels a lot easier to ride than the last time I rode a 600cc bike in 2004. It just shows how much these bikes have developed. The biggest things for me to get used are the weight and way it moves when cornering compared to a two-stroke. It is a lot more physical but I am finding my style pretty quickly. I am very happy with eighth considering it is a strange track and bike to me. I'm looking forward to tomorrow as I know I have more to give." Massimo Roccoli (13th - 1'52.315 - Yamaha Team Italia) "I have a very fast machine and I made some good steps in the Italian national championship last weekend but I still have some problems with the front end of the bike. We will be working on fixing it overnight as I need to start on the first or second row not in thirteenth this weekend. That is my goal for tomorrow's qualifying - first or second row." Circuit Length: 5792 Temp: 25 Weather: Sunny 2007 WSS Monza 11/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'50.711 2 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'50.791 3 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'50.866 4 Fabien Foret Kawasaki FRA 1'51.098 5 Broc Parkes Yamaha AUS 1'51.557 6 Barry Veneman Suzuki NED 1'51.837 7 Pere Riba Kawasaki ESP 1'51.848 8 Anthony West Yamaha AUS 1'51.867 9 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'51.889 10 Yoann Tiberio Honda FRA 1'52.088 11 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'52.148 12 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'52.195 13 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'52.315 14 Gilles Boccolini Kawasaki ITA 1'52.393 15 Lorenzo Alfonsi Honda ITA 1'52.412 22 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'52.960 24 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'53.148 Click here to view the news

UFO Corse Yamaha mounted Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero produced two well deserved podium finishes at the GP of Portugal, staged in Marc de Canaveses, to once again show that he is the most exciting young talent in the Enduro 1 class in '07. Having claimed a career best result of fourth and third at his home round of the '07 WEC series, the GP of Spain, the former Enduro Junior World Champion placed in third and second in Portugal to claim his first ever double podium result. With Finn Juha Salminen topping the E1 class results in Portugal as he has in both Spain and Sweden, it was Yamaha France rider Marc Germain who placed as runner-up on day one placing just under one and a half seconds ahead of Guerrero. Placing as runner-up in the three opening special tests on day one Cristobal set himself up well for a good result despite then falling in the opening enduro test. Despite his small mistake the Spaniard went on to perform consistently and placed a creditable third. On day two Cristobal started in the best possible way by winning the first extreme test and in doing so made his intensions of another good result crystal clear. Going on to post the second fastest E1 class time on three of the day's tests Cristobal spent much of day two locked in a battle with Poland's Bartosz Oblucki. With little to separate the two riders Cristobal managed to claim the upper hand as the day neared its close and in beating Oblucki in the final three tests he ensured that he had done enough to claim the runner-up spot behind Juha Salminen and claim a career best result. Also performing well in Portugal, despite failing to make it onto the podium on either day, was UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni. Fourth on both days Simone placed less than 11 seconds behind second placed rider Marc Germain on day one and then just 10 seconds away from team-mate Guerrero on day two. Performing well on the second and third laps on both days Simone's slow start to both days ultimately affected his results. Disappointingly for the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz a seventh place finish on day one was followed by an 18th place finish on day two as the Italian's WR250 took water into its engine as he crossed a river. Due to losing time while working on drying out his bike's engine Maurizio received a 10 minute penalty, which dropped him to 18th position. Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 Second: "It's been a really good race for me and to finish on the podium on both days is fantastic. At the start of the season I wanted to finish inside the top five so finishing third on day one and second on the second day is great, I'm really happy with my results. I didn't have too many problems although I had a few small crashes on both days. The start of the season has been great so I hope I can continue to finish with good results." Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Fourth, Day 2 Fourth: "My problem this weekend has been my first laps. On both days I was sleeping a little on the opening lap and lost some time there. After that I was able to find my rhythm and my speed. My problem was not being fast enough in the first lap. I won one test on day one and had some good times on both days but I can't afford to be slow on the first lap, not against a rider like Juha Salminen. My results weren't so bad but if my first laps were better then my result would have been better." Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Seventh, Day 2 18th: "It's not been a good weekend for me. The first day wasn't so bad but I had a really bad extreme test on the second lap, which cost me a lot of time. Day two was a disaster. I managed to get some water into my engine on one of the river crossings and I took a 10 minute penalty trying to fix it. After that I had some ok tests but with a 10 minutes penalty there was no way I could get a good result. I finished so at least I took some points." Circuit Length: 4555 Crowd: 6500 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 1 Portugal 07/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 44'17.800 2 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'31.430 3 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'32.800 4 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'42.720 5 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 0'45.340 6 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'48.040 7 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 1'42.040 8 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 2'16.150 9 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 2'31.150 10 Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 2'56.590 11 Luca Cherubini TM ITA 3'20.510 12 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 3'32.720 13 Jordi Figueras KTM ESP 3'43.890 14 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 3'48.930 15 Pedro Enes Yamaha POR 3'52.910 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 54'41.680 2 Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 0'40.090 3 Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 0'41.720 4 Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 0'48.940 5 Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 0'49.640 6 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 1'40.520 7 Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 3'21.860 8 Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 3'37.930 9 Mike Hartmann KTM GER 4'5.840 10 Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 4'48.490 11 Jordi Figueras KTM ESP 5'4.190 12 Pedro Enes Yamaha POR 5'13.450 13 Fernando Ferreira Yamaha POR 5'47.380 14 Joan Jou Yamaha ESP 5'50.460 15 Tim Lewis TM GBR 6'2.250 18 Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 12'31.120 Rider Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 150 2. Cristobal Guerrero Yamaha ESP 108 3. Bartosz Oblucki Husqvarna POL 104 4. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 103 5. Simone Albergoni Yamaha ITA 98 6. Marc Germain Yamaha FRA 97 7. Mike Hartmann KTM GER 66 8. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha ITA 66 9. Anthony Roberts Honda AUS 59 10. Damien Miquel Kawasaki FRA 40 11. Tomi Peltola Suzuki FIN 38 12. Frederik Georgsson KTM SWE 36 13. Danielle Tellini KTM ITA 36 14. Luca Cherubini TM ITA 34 15. Niklas Gustafsson KTM SWE 34 Manufacturer Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. KTM 150 2. Yamaha 116 3. Husqvarna 104 4. Honda 69 5. Kawasaki 40 6. TM 40 7. Suzuki 38 RACE REPORT 07/05/2007 Johnny Aubert wins second consecutive GP UFO Corse Yamaha rider Johnny Aubert claimed his second consecutive double Enduro 2 class win of the '07 World Enduro Championship season by twice topping the podium at the GP of Portugal, staged in Marco de Canaveses. With his confidence running high having claimed two impressive E2 class wins at the GP of Spain one week earlier Aubert opened up an early lead on day one, which was never headed. Winning the first five tests of the opening day Aubert never looked like being beaten on his WR450 and despite constant pressure from reigning E2 world champion Samuli Aro, Finn Mika Ahola and Australian Stefan Merriman the former motocross racer remained in control and claimed a deserved win finishing just under 12 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Putting his aggressive riding style to good work Aubert showed, as he did at the GP of Spain, that he has the speed to win the Enduro 2 world championship in '07. Placing second behind Aubert was Finn Mika Ahola who placed close to 30 seconds ahead of Merriman with Aro fourth. On day two Aubert had to work a little harder for his victory, despite going on to win by close to 40 seconds. Placing eighth on the day's opening special test he then set about his winning ways topping seven of the day's 10 tests. Setting a pace that no other rider could match Aubert made light work of the rough, rutted and demanding special tests and finished the second day, as he had the first, as the fastest overall rider in the event. As he did on day one Finn Mika Ahola placed in second to Aubert on day two with Samuli Aro claiming third. The UFO Corse Yamaha team's second E2 class rider Italian Fabrizio Dini placed in eighth on day one before moving one place higher with a seventh place result on day two. Johnny Aubert (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 2 class - Day 1 First, Day 2 First: "At the beginning of the race I was a little bit nervous. I was looking forward to the race after winning last weekend and although I didn't feel 100 per cent relaxed from the start on the first day after a few special tests I felt good. I opened up a good lead and began to ride smooth. I crashed once in the motocross test, but I only lost a few seconds. "Day two also went well but I crashed twice in the extreme test, which cost me some time. I had to push hard all day and from the second lap on I felt good. It was a hard race though because the special tests got really rough. Winning both days in Spain was great and winning both days here in Portugal is just fantastic. I'm so happy, and a little surprised. I'm really looking forward to the Italian GP now." Circuit Length: 4555 Crowd: 6500 Weather: Sunny 2007 Enduro 2 Portugal 07/05/2007 Race 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 43'55.040 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0'11.190 3 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 0'37.750 4 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 1'4.290 5 Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 1'22.640 6 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 1'31.530 7 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 1'47.960 8 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 1'57.170 9 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'15.520 10 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 2'26.360 11 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 3'3.170 12 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 3'11.140 13 Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 4'16.300 14 Victor Oliveira HusaBerg POR 8'54.850 15 Vito Carvalho HusaBerg POR 11'7.910 Race 2 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 54'19.390 2 Mika Ahola Honda FIN 0'37.540 3 Samuli Aro KTM FIN 0'46.770 4 Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 1'26.430 5 Fabien Planet KTM FRA 2'3.350 6 Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 2'23.580 7 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 2'37.320 8 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 2'44.220 9 Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 3'19.390 10 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 3'53.020 11 Patrick Caps GasGas BEL 4'7.830 12 Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 4'15.470 13 Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 4'39.290 14 Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 10'16.420 15 Victor Oliveira HusaBerg POR 13'47.130 Rider Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Mika Ahola Honda FIN 133 2. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 132 3. Samuli Aro KTM FIN 123 4. Stefan Merriman Aprilia AUS 100 5. Fabien Planet KTM FRA 92 6. Jari Juha Mattila Beta FIN 77 7. Xavier Galindo KTM ESP 75 8. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 67 9. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 63 10. Rodrig Thain Suzuki FRA 55 11. Nicolas Deparrois Husqvarna FRA 51 12. Thierry Klutz Sherco BEL 51 13. Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 37 14. Nathan Kanney Husqvarna USA 35 15. Patrik Wicksell KTM SWE 33 Manufacturer Standings 05/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Honda 133 2. Yamaha 132 3. KTM 125 4. Aprilia 101 5. Beta 77 6. HusaBerg 67 7. Husqvarna 62 8. Suzuki 55 9. Sherco 51 10. GasGas 32 11. BMW 12 12. TM 9 Click here to view the news

Yamaha's emphatic presence in the MX1 and MX2 World Championship continues as Yamaha Motocross Team's Josh Coppins won his third Grand Prix of the year and Yamaha De Carli's Antonio Cairoli maintained a 100% record with his fourth consecutive success at a sunny and warm Mantova circuit for the Italian round and the fourth meeting of fifteen in the FIM competition. The Mantova layout had been altered slightly from the course that opened the off-road racing calendar in February. The track, with its rough, sandy terrain and many jumps, won praise from most of the riders for the challenge it offered. The facility is unique in the way it is compacted in a squared 'stadium' setting, allowing wide views of most of the circuit. The first MX1 moto was a collection of incidents. Marc De Reuver started brightly and held fourth position behind Coppins in the early stages. On a surge of confidence the Dutchman took off to challenge David Philippaerts for the lead but the pair collided in a tight left-hander and both went down. Ken de Dycker moved through to head a four rider group but Coppins attacked right away and the duo swapped positions for several laps until De Dycker faded. For the last third of the race Coppins was not overtaken, although Tanel Leok kept him close company; the 30 year old rode comfortably to his fifth triumph from seven motos. De Reuver re-started outside of the top ten and eventually took the chequered flag in a humble twenty-third and out of the points. Coppins again faced the threat of De Dycker in the second sprint. The former team-mates tangled before the New Zealander backed off to observe his rival. After four laps he was able to regain ground on the Belgian and swiftly relegated the 22 year old to second spot. The Rinaldi squad were naturally thrilled with victory at their home Grand Prix and Coppins cited the triumph as the best of his career after battling some set-up problems on Saturday. Further good news lay in store when De Reuver (sporting a close-cut hairstyle instead of his traditional lengthy locks) crossed the line in third spot for his second top three MX1 moto finish with Yamaha. Tanel Leok in second place and Sebastien Pourcel in third both made their first appearances on the podium, Coppins was able to extend his lead in the MX1 series by 17 points over Kevin Strijbos (who was fourth overall) and now enjoys a 36 point advantage. De Reuver's efforts leave him tenth. Josh Coppins, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I'm pretty happy. It is no secret that I don't like this track and it looked obvious yesterday but we worked hard with the team, and Yamaha were really smart and made some good decisions for me. We really improved the bike over the two days. I knew my race pace was good but I could not go that little bit extra for a flying lap. Today I had to be a little bit clever and head-strong and fight to the end. The first moto was crazy because a lot of guys were trying to win the race in the first ten minutes. I let them do their own thing. I almost got caught up with Marc when he fell and that was a near miss. I started to ride better after that and gave my best. I had a pretty good idea that I could pass Ken again in the second moto. He had a couple of better lines so I let him go but I wondered how much energy he had left and when he started to slow I was confident I could lead again. I think this is the best win ever for me simply because I have never done well at this track and today went much better than I expected." Marc de Reuver, Yamaha Motocross Team: "I felt really good from the first practice and I really thought this was going to be my weekend. I got the first corners right in the first moto and moved into fifth. I found it really easy to overtake from there and got up to second place. I then got a bit over-excited when I wanted to pass Philippaerts. It was not totally my fault. It was just a racing accident. It took a while before we got untangled and I was at the back and really disappointed. In the second race my start was good and I wanted to follow Josh because it is easy to blow yourself up on this track if you go crazy. We both moved past Mike Brown, but Ken de Dycker came through. At the end he tired and I thought I might be able to get him but I made some mistakes and decided to have a safe finish. Third is not so bad and lifts my results and points in the right direction again." Carlo Rinaldi, Team Manager, Yamaha Motocross Team: "It has been a very good home GP and I am very happy mainly because the weekend did not start in the best way. Josh did not feel very comfortable on this track and we struggled on Saturday to get him running well with the bike, so we were not expecting such a good race. Josh showed one of his very positive characteristics though and reacted strongly. With good starts he had the patience to wait for the right moment to attack and won both motos. About Marc, I am pleased because physically he is getting better and speed-wise he is there, but I was disappointed when he crashed in the first moto and threw away a big chance for the race win. He proved that he was ready to win, but maybe he wasn't patient enough and that's a pity. He made up for it with a consistent race in the second moto and third place was very good for him because he needs the points." Temp: 26 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny 2006 2007 GP of Mantova, Italy 06/05/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 40'20.318 2 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'10.494 3 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'16.085 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'29.880 5 James Noble Honda GBR 0'34.911 6 Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 0'38.195 7 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'42.294 8 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 0'46.664 9 David Philippaerts KTM ITA 0'49.336 10 Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 0'55.145 11 Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 1'10.513 12 Manuel Priem TM BEL 1'15.256 13 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'28.505 14 Mike Brown Honda USA 1'31.926 15 Julien Bill Kawasaki CHE 1'32.921 16 Alex Salvini Yamaha ITA 1'34.455 17 Christian Beggi Honda ITA 1'43.475 18 Antti Pyrhonen Kawasaki FIN 1'48.314 19 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 1'52.786 20 Christian Stevanini Yamaha ITA 1'56.134 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 40'56.507 2 Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 0'5.757 3 Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 0'10.669 4 Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'13.407 5 Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 0'15.793 6 Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 0'19.242 7 James Noble Honda GBR 0'28.599 8 Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 0'39.096 9 Mike Brown Honda USA 0'49.588 10 Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 0'59.306 11 Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 1'3.127 12 Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 1'6.985 13 Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 1'21.234 14 Pierre A. Renet Honda FRA 1'25.998 15 Antti Pyrhonen Kawasaki FIN 1'43.079 16 Marko Kovalainen Honda FIN 1'45.801 17 Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 1'57.507 18 Christian Beggi Honda ITA 2'28.389 19 Julien Bill Kawasaki CHE -1 Laps 20 Scott Columb Suzuki NZL -1 Laps Rider Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Joshua Coppins Yamaha NZL 194 2. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 158 3. Steve Ramon Suzuki BEL 116 4. Ken De Dycker Honda BEL 106 5. Sébastien Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 103 6. Jonathan Barragan KTM ESP 100 7. Tanel Leok Kawasaki EST 98 8. James Noble Honda GBR 91 9. Mike Brown Honda USA 81 10. Marc De Reuver Yamaha NED 80 11. David Philippaerts KTM ITA 74 12. Manuel Priem TM BEL 70 13. Maximilian Nagl KTM GER 63 14. Kornel Nemeth Suzuki HUN 62 15. Billy MacKenzie Kawasaki GBR 61 16. Aigar Leok Yamaha EST 45 17. Marvin Van Daele Honda BEL 45 18. Thomas Allier Kawasaki FRA 35 19. Gordon Crockard Honda IRL 32 20. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 27 Manufacturer Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 194 2. Suzuki 165 3. KTM 140 4. Honda 129 5. Kawasaki 127 6. TM 70 7. Aprilia 2 RACE REPORT 06/05/2007 Cairoli scores quartet of GP wins The traditionally enthusiastic crowd were driven wild by Cairoli's third clean-sweep of both motos this season. The Sicilian, on the De Carli tuned YZ250F, has now won five from six and finished second in the other race categories, winnig all GP's thusfar in the 2007 season. Antonio was so dominant in his qualification heat Saturday that he could afford to make a good show for the crowd over the many Mantova jumps, he blitzed the first Grand Prix moto and held a lead of four seconds by the end of the second lap. From that point onwards the 2005 World Champion raced the track alone with the cheers of his many fans for company. He repeated his excellence in the second race and his sheer speed on the opening lap after another ideal start was the deciding factor in delivering his fifteenth career success. There is little more to say about Cairoli's form this season except that the 21 year old is currently operating in a different league to his peers. His increased his margin to 55 points which means that he can afford two DNFs and still be leading the championship. With Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle filling the other two podium steps Yamaha's next best placed representative was Yamaha Team Ricci's talent Nicolas Aubin with sixth overall. The French youngster - who looked so stylish over the table-top jumps - was eleventh and sixth in the two motos. Team-mate Kenneth Gundersen ran as high as fourth for long stretches of the first moto but was passed by an energetic Gareth Swanepoel. His fifth position would be his only finish of the day as a heavy crash after landing awkwardly from a double jump forced the Norwegian to retire with a bruised left side of his body. Davide Guarneri was back in action and attempting his first Grand Prix of the season after sustaining an ankle injury. The Italian could not continue after his gear lever was smashed in the first moto but took a conservative thirteenth in the second outing. Both Bike it Yamaha Dixon Racing rider's score points today. Martin Barr completed the best weekend of his short GP career (started with appearances in 2006) by taking thirteenth overall with twelfth and fifteenth positions. British Champion Carl Nunn is coming back to full fitness and should have had a top ten result after running near the first five in the opening moto but slipped off and took four points for seventeenth. He was hit by another rider on the first lap of the second Moto and had to pit to change a bent rear brake lever. He finished the race, but out of the points. Antonio Cairoli, Team De Carli Yamaha: "I am really happy with this race and I feel very good with my riding and also mentally. I had a great feeling with the bike at this track even though we made some changes for the second heat and I could win that race even easier. It helped to have pole position from Saturday as I could hold the inside line even if I did not get away in first from the gate. I was surprised that Christophe could not go with me in the second moto but after two laps I saw that I had a good enough gap and could control it from there. It was an important race for me as I know Motocross is getting more popular now in Italy; I have many fans and I'm really happy about this and to be able to win for them is fantastic." Nicolas Aubin, Yamaha Team Ricci: "Sixth overall was not so bad today as my goal is to always be in the top ten. The first race my start was not very good but I could not find my rhythm and struggled to get the good lines. Things were better in the second race but I was on the limit sometimes and close to crashing. I got near to Searle but couldn't find a way through. I dropped back to get my rhythm going again and pushed hard to overtake but then crashed. I was lucky that the bike kept running and there was no damage." Kenneth Gundersen, Yamaha Team Ricci: "In the first race I had a good start but got a bit tired towards the end so I thought I would make sure of fifth and see what I could do in the second moto. I had a poor start when we went out again but I was coming through well and reached the top ten before the crash. I'm sure the overall result would have been good but I just lost control." The fifth meeting of the year takes place in just seven days time with the Grand Prix of Germany at the Talkessel circuit in Teutschenthal. The teams will cut through Europe this week to head to the east of the country and the venue near the city of Halle. Temp: 27 Crowd: 29000 Weather: Sunny 2006 2007 GP of Mantova, Italy 06/05/2007 Race 1 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 40'29.827 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'8.985 3 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'11.718 4 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'13.575 5 Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 0'32.325 6 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'41.013 7 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 0'46.640 8 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 0'55.326 9 Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 0'56.844 10 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 0'57.270 11 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'57.807 12 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'7.415 13 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'13.097 14 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'17.216 15 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'18.799 16 Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 1'25.239 17 Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 1'29.917 18 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 1'32.600 19 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'34.173 20 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'36.827 Race 2 - 19 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 41'12.692 2 Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 0'15.981 3 Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 0'19.661 4 Tommy Searle KTM GBR 0'21.469 5 Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 0'22.998 6 Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 0'45.140 7 Matti Seistola Honda FIN 0'51.466 8 Rui Goncalves KTM POR 1'0.340 9 Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 1'6.121 10 Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 1'6.449 11 Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 1'8.807 12 Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 1'16.883 13 Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 1'21.212 14 Avis Wyatt KTM RSA 1'25.093 15 Martin Barr Yamaha GBR 1'25.739 16 Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 1'26.468 17 Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 1'41.997 18 Gregory Aranda Kawasaki FRA 1'45.542 19 Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 2'0.415 20 Jeremy Tarroux Yamaha FRA -1 Laps Rider Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Antonio Cairoli Yamaha ITA 197 2. Tyla Rattray KTM RSA 142 3. Christophe Pourcel Kawasaki FRA 137 4. Tommy Searle KTM GBR 117 5. Pascal Leuret Honda FRA 110 6. Gareth Swanepoel Kawasaki RSA 107 7. Nicolas Aubin Yamaha FRA 94 8. Kenneth Gundersen Yamaha NOR 91 9. Matti Seistola Honda FIN 78 10. Marcus Schiffer KTM GER 70 11. Steven Frossard Kawasaki FRA 58 12. Anthony Boissière Kawasaki FRA 57 13. Erik Eggens Suzuki NED 54 14. Xavier Boog Yamaha FRA 46 15. Manuel Monni Yamaha ITA 45 16. Tom Church Kawasaki GBR 45 17. Matteo Bonini Yamaha ITA 42 18. Dennis Verbruggen Yamaha BEL 35 19. Sean Hamblin Suzuki USA 35 20. Shaun Simpson Kawasaki GBR 34 21. Carl Nunn Yamaha GBR 31 29. Davide Guarneri Yamaha ITA 8 Manufacturer Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Yamaha 197 2. Kawasaki 165 3. KTM 161 4. Honda 115 5. Suzuki 82 Click here to view the news

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi fought a race-long battle with Casey Stoner during the Grand Prix of China today, the pair providing a thrilling spectacle until the 16th lap when Rossi was forced to concede victory to the Australian after a small mistake. Despite starting from the front row alongside pole-sitter Rossi, Colin Edwards had a less successful day as he suffered tyre problems from the start and dropped steadily down the order, eventually finishing a disappointing 11th. John Hopkins took the lead into turn one but Rossi passed him on the first lap to cross the line in front. Edwards however had already slipped down to sixth and was unable to make up anymore ground from then on. By lap three Rossi had dropped behind both Stoner and Marco Melandri but before long Rossi had despatched his fellow countryman and set off after Stoner, eliciting a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse which kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Rossi's M1 worked perfectly throughout and the Italian was never more than a few tenths down on Stoner, exploiting the agility and corner speed of his Yamaha in the earlier sections to close the gap and often pass Stoner, but relinquishing ground down the long back straight where the Ducati had the advantage. The pair kept up a blistering pace and only Hopkins could stay with them, closing the gap to half a second at one point in pursuit of his first podium. With seven laps to go and Rossi doing everything in his powers to find a way to make a pass stick on Stoner, the Yamaha rider made a mistake braking into the hairpin at the end of the back straight and ran off the track, letting Hopkins through. Rossi kept fighting and was able to pass the American back again to consolidate second place, but Stoner was too far ahead and took the flag three seconds in front. Edwards, meanwhile, had a difficult race as his package failed to work today and he was una ble to use the potential of his Yamaha, crossing the line 35 seconds behind the winner. Valentino Rossi Position: 2ndTime: +3.036 "I enjoyed today a lot, it was a great race, a really exciting battle and my Yamaha was fantastic to the end. We knew that this track would be difficult for us so to be able to fight with Stoner at 100% for the entire race was a great feeling. Of course it's not a win, but I think second place is a very good result for us here. I didn't want to give up and just ride for second, I wanted to try to pass him and I made some good overtaking manoeuvres but wasn't able to stay in front down the straight. Then I made a mistake when I hit a bump when braking, had to release the brake and ran off track. It was a pity, but when you're riding on the limit lap after lap then things like this can happen; that's racing! Anyway I knew I couldn't give up, I had a nice battle with John and then was able to take second. I think these twenty points are really important and we're still second in the championship. I'm really more sad for what happened in Turkey because if we hadn't had the problem there then I might have been level with Stoner in the championship now. But the season is long and now we have several races in Europe at some of my favourite tracks and I think we're in good shape for them!" Colin Edwards Position: 11thTime: +35.053 "I don't have much positive stuff to say about today's race! I had hoped that I would be able to try for a podium but right from the start I didn't have any rear grip and it was all I could do to keep it upright throughout the race. I genuinely believe that our bike is the best on the grid and I've never felt happier with it, but unfortunately the package as a whole isn't working for me at the moment and we need to understand why. I had a slightly different tyre to Valentino but he really showed his class again today. I just want to forget about this race and look forward to Le Mans, where I've always gone well." Davide Brivio - Team Director "If you had told us before we got here that we would take second place, we would have been happy with that. Then of course on Friday and Saturday we realised that we could in fact battle for the victory! Valentino was perfect today and he couldn't have done anything better. His mistake was due to his fighting spirit, his refusal to give up and his will to fight until the end; this is the mark of a champion. We showed we have huge potential, we lack a little bit of top speed and we must improve the performance of the engine so this is what we will be working on in the next few weeks. Colin showed with his performance yesterday that he has the ability to do well this season, but he used a different tyre and a different set-up to Valentino and unfortunately it didn't work for him today. Valentino and Yamaha are in perfect shape and Colin has proved that he too can do great things when everything's working well for him. The championship is still young and we will keep on fighting like we did today." Season best result for Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team The Yamaha Tech 3 Team scored its best result of the year to date as Sylvain Guintoli finished in 13th position at the Grand Prix of China held in Shanghai. The result for the team could have been a lot better but unfortunately, his team mate Makoto Tamada was involved in an accident on the fourth lap of the race with fellow Japanese rider Shinya Nakano which forced his retirement. Among the positives that the team will take to the next Grand Prix is the fact that Sylvain was able to stay with defending world champion, Nicky Hayden, for several laps. Sylvain Guintoli Position: 13thTime: +50.705 I'm very happy with the race and the weekend. It was a good boost for me to be so close to Nicky for so long after he was caught up in that first lap incident and I had a lot of fun racing with him. Unfortunately I made a little mistake towards the end of the race that allowed the gap to open up. Anyway, I am satisfied as the weekend didn't start very well as we had a lot more trouble than Jerez and Turkey to get the right tyre but we worked hard and managed to find a good tyre for the race. At the end of the day it is my best result in MotoGP, I was able to follow Rossi for a couple of laps during practice learning a few things and I managed to stay with the world champion for half the race so this has given me a good boost of confidence for my home Grand Prix in Le Mans in two weeks time. I am really looking forward to that and after testing with Dunlop and the Yamaha Tech 3 Team last year feel that the tyres should work well there and it a track I particularly like so hopefully I can score some more good points in front of my home crowd. Makoto Tamada Position: DNF It was a shame my race only lasted three laps as I had a very good feeling with the bike and the tyres. I felt that this was going to be the best race of the year for me so far I am very disappointed that I crashed as we had good speed but I am also sorry for Shinya. I wasn't expecting to be going to pass him then but he was going a lot slower than I thought. I tried to avoid him by diving for the inside to take the corner but unfortunately we hit and we both went down and my bike was too badly damaged to continue The tyres are also getting better so I am feeling better on the bike everytime I ride it. Hopefully we can continue the progress at the next race and I can get a good result for myself and the team. Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Director It wasn't such a bad weekend for us but firstly I would like to say that we have to qualify better because during the entire weekend, apart for the last 30 minutes of the qualifying session, we were always quicker than a few riders who eventually qualified in front of us. Once we get to the race we go back to the same pace we had during the practices. Makoto was catching and passing a few guys and doing very well. He had a great start, was very aggressive but wasn't involved in the first lap crash. He was up to 11th as he was able to catch and pass a few riders but unfortunately - and we apologise to Shinya Nakano and his team - he was caught a bit by surprise as he was a lot faster but he didn't expect Shinya to brake so early at the end of the back straight and hit him from behind. It's a pity because when we see what Sylvain has done it was possible to have both riders score some good points. For myself personally, the best part of the weekend was Sylvain as he managed to stay right behind the world champion, Nicky Hayden for over 10 laps turning in the same lap times and this will be excellent for his confidence. He showed to many in the MotoGP paddock that he can race with anyone. The work we did at Istanbul is paying off so I hope that we will have many people come and support us at our home Grand Prix at Le Mans in two weeks time. Circuit Length: 5451 Temp: 23 Weather: Dry 2007 MotoGP China - Shanghai 06/05/2007 Race 1 - 22 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 44'12.891 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 0'3.036 3 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'6.663 4 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'14.090 5 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'17.276 6 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'26.256 7 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'26.591 8 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'27.025 9 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'28.108 10 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 0'32.957 11 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'35.053 12 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'37.327 13 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 0'50.705 14 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 0'55.264 15 Kenny Roberts KR212V USA 0'57.736 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'59.857 Rider Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 86 2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 71 3. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 49 4. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 41 5. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 39 6. Toni Elias Honda ESP 35 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 31 8. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 30 9. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 30 10. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 30 11. Alex Barros Ducati BRA 27 12. Carlos Checa Honda ESP 20 13. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 19 14. Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 19 15. Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 15 16. Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 6 17. Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 4 Team Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Team Points 1. Ducati Marlboro Team 116 2. FIAT Yamaha Team 102 3. Repsol Honda Team 79 4. Honda Gresini 76 5. Rizla Suzuki 69 6. Pramac D'Antin 46 7. Kawasaki Racing Team 23 8. Honda LCR 20 9. Konica Minolta Honda 15 10. Tech3 Yamaha 10 11. Team Roberts 4 Manufacturer Standings 06/05/2007 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Ducati 86 2. Yamaha 71 3. Honda 69 4. Suzuki 46 5. Kawasaki 23 6. KR212V 4 Click here to view the news

An incredible flying lap from Valentino Rossi saw the Fiat Yamaha Team rider take his third pole of the season in China this afternoon, the Italian bettering last year's pole time by more than half a second with a perfect lap around the 5.2km Shanghai International Circuit. For the third time this season Rossi is also joined on the front row by his team-mate Colin Edwards, who qualified third, with the Yamaha pair separated by Edwards' fellow American John Hopkins. The promised rain once again failed to appear and the hour-long qualifying session was played out on a dry track with the clouds giving way to bright sunshine by the end. The first 45 minutes passed busily for the Yamaha duo, who were intent on using all the available time to fine-tune their set-up and gather information about tyres before concentrating on their qualifying laps in the final stages. Edwards' first run with a soft Michelin qualifying tyre moved him close to the top of the order but it was Rossi's first flying lap that left everyone amazed, the Italian completing a faultless lap right on the limit of his Yamaha's capabilities to put in an incredible time of 1'58.424. Edwards' second flying lap was good enough to move him into second but he was eventually pushed down one place by Hopkins. Although Rossi's lap proved well out of the striking distance of his rivals, he showed it was no fluke by going within 0.1 seconds of his own time on his second qualifying tyre just minutes later. Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 1'58.424Laps: 24 "That was sincerely an incredibly exciting feeling for me; to ride my M1 right on the limit and make such a perfect lap at 100%. When I saw the time on the television I was quite surprised because I didn't know it was that fast, but I had pushed the bike to the maximum and I knew that it was a good lap. I had great grip from my Michelin qualifying tyre and my Yamaha worked perfectly, so a big thank you to everyone involved. I was able to arrive at every corner very fast and to brake at the last possible moment; a couple of times I was worried I was too late but every time my bike responded perfectly and I had great grip. I felt a lot of adrenalin from this lap! Despite both of us being on the front row, maybe we're not favourites for tomorrow and the race is a very different story. Anyway we've all done very well today. We need to make a couple more small modifications to the setting and then we will just hope for good weather again, a good start and a good race." Colin Edwards Position: 3rdTime: 1'59.406Laps: 18 "Well done to the team, once again they've done a really good job, worked their tails off and here we are again on the front row alongside Valentino. The qualifying tyres are working really well this year and with the extra grip they give us we can really push hard. As for the race setting, we've changed a few things with the geometry today and it seems to have improved things a fair bit, although we've still got to make a final decision with regards to the race tyre. It's always going to be a little bit of a gamble but hopefully we'll make the right choice. The bike feels very good and a podium is definitely a realistic aim, but it's going to be a very long and hard race. Starting from the front row will be pretty important here and hopefully we can make the most of this advantage, avoid any repeats of the first-lap pile-up in Turkey and try to better last year's podium!" Davide Brivio - Team Director "It's great for the team to have both riders on the front row once again, after the problems we had last year it's very encouraging that this is becoming a regular occurrence. When everything is working well our riders are always at the top so this shows the great potential of our package. Valentino's lap was exceptional today and Colin is also in good shape and riding very well; we're especially happy for him to be on the front row again after his unlucky crash in Turkey. Despite this qualifying result we know that tomorrow's race is going to be very difficult and our riders will have to fight at 100% throughout it. The team have done a great job and now they just need to make a few final preparations in the morning and then we'll be ready for an exciting race!" 2007 MotoGP China - Shanghai 05/05/2007 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'58.424 2 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'59.315 3 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'59.406 4 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'59.516 5 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'59.602 6 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'59.863 7 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'59.985 8 Alex Barros Ducati BRA 2'0.052 9 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 2'0.087 10 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 2'0.157 11 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 2'0.175 12 Toni Elias Honda ESP 2'0.205 13 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 2'0.319 14 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'0.369 15 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 2'0.680 17 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 2'1.157 18 Makoto Tamada Yamaha JPN 2'1.178 Click here to view the news